SUPERIOR, Wis. - Following its victory Wednesday, the Yellowjacket men's hockey team entered play Friday knowing with a second straight win over UW-River Falls, it would plunge itself square in the middle of the logjam known as the WIAC standings. Three teams were sitting two points ahead of them and UW-Stevens Point before the game, meaning at the end of play Friday there could be as many as five teams tied with eight points.

UW-River Falls is one of those teams, and with a win Friday it would not only avenge Wednesday's defeat, but would also be guaranteed at least a share of first place in the conference.

The Yellowjackets broke the ice and opened the scoring Friday, but River Falls won the special teams battle, scoring three times on the power play on the way to a 4-2 win at Wessman Arena.

Entering play Friday, the Yellowjackets (3-3-0, 3-3-0 WIAC) owned one of the top five penalty killing percentages in the nation, having given up just one power play goal in 19 chances. River Falls changed all that on this night, finding the back of the net on three of its first four power plays and forcing the Yellowjackets to play from behind for a large portion of the game.

Things started out well for the Yellowjackets, who traditionally have fared well when they open the scoring. At 5:08 of the opening period Chad Lopez (Arlington, Texas/University of Texas) got things started, pouncing on a rebound in the crease and poking it into a wide open net to give the Yellowjackets the 1-0 lead. The play started when Artur Terchiyev (Kiev, Ukraine/Everest Academy) deftly corralled a spinning rebound and pushed it through traffic to find Lopez down low.

Moments later the Falcons came back and tied the game when Vilho Saariluoma scored on the power play at 8:41. They took the lead for good at 11:33 of the first when Cayden Cahill got a loose puck at the left post and lifted it over Oscar Svensson (Södertälje, Sweden/Haga Gymnasium) for the second power play goal of the period, taking a 2-1 lead into the locker room.

River Falls extended the lead on the power play at 4:07 of the second when Saariluoma wired a shot from the left circle over Svensson's glove to make it a 3-1 game.

It stayed that way until the 8:00 mark of the third period when Josh Arnold scored his second goal in as many games against the Yellowjackets, beating Svensson between the pads on a long wrist shot.

The Yellowjackets didn't go away quietly, however, and with 8:18 to go in the contest they pulled back to within two. Lopez carried the puck into the River Falls zone on the right wing, cut ot the middle at the top of the circle and wristed a shot past goaltender Dysen Skinner on the glove side to make the score 4-2.

That was as close as the Yellowjackets would get, as River Falls defended the lead and picked up the hard-fought win.

Svensson saw his record drop to 3-3-0 on the year, finishing the night with 21 saves on 25 shots. He gave way to Nick Althaus (St. Cloud, Minn./Apollo) who played the final 11:28 and stopped all five shots he faced.

At the other end Skinner made 27 stops to get the win for River Falls.

The Yellowjackets will be back in action Wednesday, March 3 when they host UW-Stout in the final home game of the regular season. The opening face-off is set for 7:05 p.m.

UW-Superior and Yellowjacket Athletics will follow the COVID-19 safety guidelines and protocols recommended by the Douglas County Health Department. To conduct our events in the safest manner possible, spectators will not be permitted at UW-Superior home athletic events. Fans can follow the Yellowjackets through our online content provider, the iFan Sports Network. Fans can also listen to contests live on the radio home of Yellowjacket sports, 91.3 KUWS.