The Minnesota Wilderness mounted some heavy pressure in the final moments of its game Saturday night in an effort to close a 2-goal deficit, but the effort fell short in a 2-1 loss to the St. Cloud Norsemen.
Peteris Purmalis scored Minnesota’s lone goal, which came with an extra attacker with goaltender Nick Erickson on the bench. Purmalis fired in a rebound with 56 seconds left in regulation time for his 16th goal of the season. Logan Nagle and Beau Janzig assisted on the tally which was Purmalis’ 4th of the week and fifth point.
Moments later, Purmalis was the victim of a hit that resulted in a head contact penalty to St. Cloud’s Michael Coleman and a Wilderness power play. Minnesota then pulled Erickson again, and for 34 seconds applied a 6-on-4 attack, but could not post the equalizer.
Hagen Moe and Tyler Dysart registered goals for St. Cloud. The Norsemen broke a scoreless tie 6:08 into the third period when Moe struck, and then made it 2-0 three minutes later thanks to Dysart’s red-lighter.
St. Cloud outshot the Wilderness 34-21. Erickson was splendid in net, making 32 saves with 27 coming in the first two periods.
On special teams, both teams were scoreless. The Wilderness had five chances on the power play, with four coming in the final frame. St. Cloud went 0-for-4 on the man-advantage.
The game marked the final contest of the regular season between the two intrastate rivals. The Norsemen (17-12-9) won all four meetings including a 5-2 victory Friday night in St. Cloud.
Minnesota will look to get back on track next weekend. The Wilderness (22-14-4) will take on the Chippewa Steel in a home-and-home series. The two-game set begins Friday night in Chippewa Falls.