MENOMONIE, Wis: For the second time in as many games the Yellowjacket men's hockey team found the back of the net and built a 2-0 lead in the first period, and for the second time in as many games the Yellowjackets had to hang on as time wound down.

With 7.4 seconds left on the clock Andrew Durham (Richardson, Texas/Plano East) won a key defensive zone face-off and the Yellowjackets controlled the puck along the boards as time expired, giving them a 3-2 win over UW-Stout Friday night at the Fanetti Community Center.

The win was the third in a row for the Yellowjackets, giving them the first three-game winning streak since they started the 2015-16 season 3-0.

Friday night the Yellowjackets drew first blood when Troy York (Plano, Texas/West) was on the doorstep and batted a rebound out of the air to the left of the Stout goal to make it 1-0. The goal for York was just his second in the last nine games and was his first in over a month. Chad Lopez (Arlington, Texas/University of Texas at Arlington) and Bruno Birzitis (Riga, Latvia/Riga Distance Education Secondary), two forwards who have struggled to find the scoresheet of late assisted on the goal.

After the Yellowjackets scored Stout carried the play and ultimately outshot the Yellowjackets 14-9 in the period, but that wasn't enough to pull ahead.

In the final minute of the period the Yellowjackets went up by a pair. This time it was Levi Cudmore (Park River, N.D./Park River) doing the honors, as the freshman went in alone on Stout goaltender Tommi Ahlgren and after a nifty stick fake lifted the puck over his blocker to make it 2-0 with just under a minute to play in the period. Artur Terchiyev (Kiev, Ukraine/Everst Academy) and Jerry Miettunen (Tuusula, Finland/Makelanrinne Sports) picked up the assists.

Early in the second period the Yellowjackets struck on the power play, and again it was York doing the damage. York got a rebound to the left of the Stout goal and pushed it home for his second of the game and his team-leading 11th goal of the year to put the Yellowjackets up 3-0.

From there the narrative of the game shifted from scoring to penalties, and this was bad news against a team that came into the game firing on the power play at a 20 percent clip. Stout got its fifth power play of the game late in the period while the teams were playing 4-on-4, and they converted with Arturas Laukaitis scoring with just 2.4 seconds left to play in the period to make it 3-1 after two.

In the third the offense nearly dried up as the teams combined for just eight shots on goal. Stout kept the Yellowjackets off the board and scored on one of its three shots, with Mathias Ahman scoring on the power play with a rocket from the blue line to pull the Blue Devils to within one, 3-2.

It was all defense the rest of the way, and the Yellowjackets bent but didn't break to pick up the win, and move into third place in the W.I.A.C. in the process.

Oscar Svensson (Södertälje, Sweden/Haga Gymnasium) was making his third-straight start Friday, and he was rock-solid once again, finishing the night with 35 saves. Over his last three games Svensson is 3-0-0 with a miniscule 1.33 goals against average and a save percentage of .963. He is now 3-2-0 on the year.

Stout outshot the Yellowjackets 37-27 in the game.