Men's Ice Hockey | 1/20/2017 6:07:00 PM

This story will continue to be updated throughout the night...

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – The Alaska Nanooks hockey team used a strong net-presence to rally a 3-2 victory over the Bowling Green University Falcons in a Western Collegiate Hockey Association matchup at the Slater Ice Arena on Friday evening. Alaska's second-straight conference win improves their overall record to 8-14-3 and 7-9-3-3 in WCHA play, while the Falcons fall to 12-14-2 overall and 10-10-1 in conference games.

"Tonight was a big three points for us, it wasn't our best game of the year but we found a way to get it done," head coach Dallas Ferguson said following Friday's win. "Scoring first was huge tonight, then we capitalized on a 5-3 opportunity make 2-0. It was nice to see Tyler get rewarded, as he has been getting good looks all throughout the year."

The Nanooks opened up the two-game conference series with a two-goal first period at Bowling Green, with sophomore forward John Mullally scoring his third goal of the season to put Alaska on the board first at the 7:15 mark of the first period. Mullally, senior forward Marcus Basara and freshman defenseman Danny Kiraly found themselves on a 3-on-2 rush entering the BGSU zonebefore Basara pulled on the brakes toward the top of the circle, dragging a Falcon defenseman with him. Basara then dished the puck over to Kiraly, who was trailing high in the zone. Kiraly fired a shot on goal that ended up hitting the post, but Mullally cleaned up the rebound after crashing the net on the odd-man rush.

With only one second left in the first period, freshman forward Tyler Cline netted his first collegiate goal to give the Nanooks a 2-0 lead going into the first intermission. A shot from junior defenseman Zach Frye from the blueline was kicked out by BGSU goaltender Chris Nell to sophomore forward Chad Staley, who was posted on the side of the net. Staley caught Nell cheating over to his side of the post and passed the puck across the crease to Cline, who put it away backdoor.

Bowling Green answered back, starting the second period off with a power play goal by Mitch McLain at the 4:32 mark. McLain knocked down a shot from the point before throwing a backhand shot past Alaska goaltender Davis Jones to make a 2-1 game. McLain's goal was assisted by Brett D'Andrea and Mark Friedman.

Alaska would score once more before the first 40 minutes of regulation was completed, as Basara made it a 3-1 game at the 16:40 mark for his second point of the night. Basara corralled the puck at the blue line of the offensive zone before firing a long shot on Nell. Freshman forward Troy Van Tetering threw Basara's rebound back on net, where Nell was unable to hold on once more, leaving a juicy rebound for Basara to tap in while crashing the net backdoor.

The Falcons made things interesting, scoring their final goal of the night at the 16:15 mark of the third period to make it a 3-2 game with less than four minutes to play. BGSU's John Schilling tipped-in a pass from McLain in the corner while crashing the net to pull the Falcons to within one.

Two Nanooks and one member of BGSU each took two-minute penalties within the three-minute mark of the third period to give the Falcons the man-advantage. Bowling Green pulled their goalie with a 1:47 to play but the Nanooks were able to kill off the 5-on-3 to seal the victory and earn three conference points on the night.

Jones, the WCHA's Defensive Player of the Week, stayed strong in net for the Nanooks, collecting 28 saves on the night, including 14 in the second period alone. On the other end of the ice, BGSU's Nell posted 21 saves against the Nanooks. Alaska was outshot by their opponent 30-24.

"Tomorrow is the last game of this road trip. We have to dig deep and execute the game we are capable of so we can end this road trip the right way," Ferguson concluded.

The Alaska Nanooks hockey team returns to the Slater Ice Arena tomorrow (Jan. 21), for another WCHA tilt against the Bowling Green Falcons at 3:07pm AKST.

For more information on the Alaska Nanooks hockey team, follow @NanooksHockey on Twitter or like the Alaska Nanooks Hockey team page on Facebook.