Fourth-ranked Minnesota Duluth scored three times on the power play and handed Colorado College its second shutout of the season with a 5-0 victory Friday night at Amsoil Arena.
 
Noah Cates and Blake Biondi each had a goal and an assist and Ryan Fanti stopped all 23 shots he faced as the Bulldogs improved to 7-2 overall and 2-1 in the NCHC. Quinn Olson and Wyatt Kaiser each collected a pair of assists.
 
UMD jumped out to a 1-0 lead with an early power-play goal. Just 16 seconds after Connor Mayer was whistled for interference, Koby Bender took a feed from Cates at the left post and put the puck in an open net past CC goalie Dominic Basse.
 
The Tigers (2-7-2, 0-3-0 NCHC) couldn't take advantage of a UMD penalty that happened at the end of the first period, then the Bulldogs scored four times, including two more on the power play, in the second period to put the game out of reach. Cates recorded his own power-play goal when he deflected the puck past Basse from the slot for a 2-0 advantage at the 3:36 mark.
 
By the middle of the period, UMD had a 4-0 lead after an even-strength goal from Casey Gilling and a power-play tally by Owen Gallatin.
 
After Matt Vernon replaced Basse just past the midway point of the game for his first action of the season, Blake Biondi scored at 15:15 of the middle frame to make it 5-0.
 
"When you're not having success on the penalty kill, you can't take penalties," head coach Kris Mayotte said. "At some point, we have to learn that. We have given away three games in a row by taking bad penalties at bad times.
 
"We gave up four goals on seven shots in the second period. We just let them get to where they wanted to go. They get to that area and they know how to finish. We gave them too many free looks in the good areas."
 
Each team had 23 shots in the game, and UMD converted on three of its five power-play opportunities. Colorado College finished the game 0-for-5 with a man advantage.
 
Jordan Biro led all players with four shots on goal. Basse had 10 saves before giving way to Vernon, who finished with eight.
 
"The benefit to tomorrow night is the score doesn't start 5-0, it starts 0-0," Mayotte said. "We'll be ready to go."
 
The two teams will battle again on Saturday, Nov. 13, beginning at 6 p.m. (MT).