MANKATO, Minn. – The Alaska Nanooks hockey team fell in the opening game of the 2018 Western Collegiate Hockey Association Playoffs on Friday night, as the No. 3 Minnesota State Mankato Mavericks defeated Alaska 8-2 at the Verizon Center in downtown Mankato. The loss drops Alaska's overall record to 11-21-3, while Minnesota State improves to 27-7-1.

Alaska enters the weekend as the No. 8 seed for the WCHA Playoffs, while Mankato ranks No. 1 after capturing the league's MacNaughton Cup, which is awarded to the conference's regular season champion. After Friday's loss, the Mavericks take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three quarterfinal series against the Nanooks.

"We didn't execute the game plan at all tonight," head coach Lance West said on Saturday. "We knew we had to play them hard defensively and control their speed in the neutral zone and we didn't do either of those things. They are too good of a hockey team for that."

After a quick start from both teams, Mankato opened up the scoring in Friday's playoff game, as senior forward Brad McClure netted his 10th goal of the season 2:18 into the game. A turnover from the Nanooks' defense behind the net separated McClure from the scrum along the wall before scoring on a far-side wrap-around play.

Alaska responded quickly, as sophomore forward Ross Heidt tied the game at 1-1 at the 4:04 mark of the first period. Sophomore forward Colton Leiter won the offensive zone face-off back to junior forward Chad Staley at the top of the circle. Staley faked a shot before dishing the puck to Heidt, who was stretching wide in the slot. Heidt caught MSU goaltender Connor LaCouvee off of his angle to net his seventh goal of the season, while Staley and Leiter picked up the apples.

Mankato would score twice-more before the first 20 minutes of regulation completed, as freshman forward Reggie Lutz and sophomore forward Marc Michaelis put the Mavericks up 3-2 before first intermission. Lutz caught a loose puck in the Alaska zone by the half-wall and turned quickly to fire a shot, just hitting the inside of the crossbar. After a long shift by Alaska with a couple of failed breakout attempts, Michaelis tipped-in a long shot from the point for his 17th goal of the season.

Sophomore defenseman Tristan Thompson rifled a slapshot from the point to pull the Nanooks to within one goal at the 5:29 mark of the second period. While on the power play, senior defenseman Zach Frye passed the puck cross-ice to Staley, who then kicked the puck up to Thompson at the offensive zone blueline. With the MSU penalty expiring soon, Thompson fired the puck on net through traffic, scoring his fifth goal of the season. Staley earned his second point of the night and 14th assist of the season on Thompson's goal, while Frye picked up his 22nd assist of the year.

The Mavericks responded with four unanswered goals through a five-minute stretch in the second to make it 7-2 within the first 40 minutes of the game. MSU's Max Coatta scored at the 5:58 mark with a rebound off of a block in front of Alaska sophomore goaltender Anton Martinsson, before Mankato's Jake Jaremko made it 5-2 with a deflection off of a Nanook defender at 6:16.

"It wasn't a bad start tonight, we did get that goal disallowed and I thought we didn't respond well at all after that," West continued. "We got back to 3-2 but then they scored on the next two shots, and again, our push-back wasn't good at times when we needed it to be."

Mankato's McClure tallied his second goal of the game with a wristshot upstairs at the 8:04 mark to make it 6-2 before MSU's Parker Tuomie netted his ninth goal of the season to make it 7-2 by driving to the net on a one-on-one play at the 10:34 mark.

The Mavericks scored their final goal of the night with a power play goal by WCHA scoring leader C.J. Suess at the 8:53 mark in the third period. After a 2-on-1 rush for the Nanooks shorthanded, LaCouvee's save sent the Mavericks back down the ice with numbers. After a scrum in the slot, Suess netted his 22nd goal of the season by burying a rebound in front of Alaska sophomore netminder Niko DellaMaggiore, who came in relief in the second period.

"They are a good hockey team but we are a good one too," West continued. "Tonight, we didn't have enough guys play the game the right way or stick to the game plan and got punished for it."

All-in-all, the Nanooks were outshot by the home team 39-21 with Mankato peppering the Alaska goaltenders with double-digit shots in each of the three periods. MSU's LaCouvee ended the night with 19 stops, while Martinsson registered 16 saves and DellaMaggiore tallied 15.

In the special teams' race, Alaska went 1-for-3 on the power play while Minnesota State went 1-for-4 on the man-advantage.

"Tomorrow is a must-win," West concluded. "All of us, the staff and the 20 guys who are in the lineup tomorrow need to decide if we're going to play at both ends of the ice. Our defensive play hasn't been what it needs to be these past couple games, which is unfortunate, but if we want to extend our season against a really good hockey team, it needs to be all out. Everybody needs to be committed to playing hard, playing simple and playing the right way."

The Alaska Nanooks and the No. 3 Minnesota State Mavericks will face each other again tomorrow (Saturday, Mar. 3) in a do-or-die contest for the Nanooks. Puck-drop at the Verizon Wireless Center is scheduled for 4:07pm AKST.

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