MANKATO, Minn. — First road win: check.

Colorado College’s five-on-five offense continues to struggle, but its power play clicked on a season-high four man-advantage opportunities.

After falling behind 1-0 in the first 23 seconds, CC tied the score at 5:36 of the second period when center Chad Rau slung the puck so hard that it hit the back of the net and bounced out to the right face-off circle.

The Tigers took the lead just more than four minutes later when right wing Scott McCulloch‘s wrist shot snuck under goaltender Mike Zacharias’ left armpit.

With less than a minute left in the second, left wing Bill Sweatt tipped defenseman Brian Connelly‘s slap shot from the high slot under Zacharias.

But the Tigers would have to earn this one. Mankato scored two goals in a 1-minute, 45-second span of the third period to knot the score.

“We just didn’t panic,” Sweatt said. “We battled and we kept going relentlessly.”

But CC got some puck luck on its fifth power play of the game when Sweatt’s centering pass hit off defenseman Channing Boe’s skate and under Zacharias. Right wing Eric Walsky, credited with the goal, earns the game-winner for the second consecutive Saturday.

Said Walsky: “I got a lucky bounce there. We kind of attribute that to just working hard. When you do that, you typically get the bounces.”

[As an aside, I responded-- "Oh, so now when you say, "We didn't get the bounces," I can say, "So, you weren't working hard"? Ever the quick wit, Walsky goes: "Well, maybe I should rephrase that."]

“This one is huge, especially because it is the first one,” Sweatt said. “Going into a long, long trip next weekend against Alaska-Anchorage, it’s good to finally get a win under our belt because we were 0-1-3 on the road so far. When you go up there to Anchorage, it’s a tough place to play, especially with all that travel. So it was good to get some confidence to get it going that way.”

Colorado College

21 Sweatt — 14 Rau — 22 Walsky
26 McCulloch — 19 Vlassopoulos — 25 Testwuide
18 Overman — 20 Dineen — 28 Schultz
5 DeBoer — 17 Johnson — 9 McMillin

11 Connelly — 15 Prosser
10 Guentzel — 4 Gannon
24 Lowery — 7 Fredheim

30 Bachman
31 O’Connell

(23 Hall, 27 Bidwill are scratches)

Minnesota State-Mankato

19 Irwin — 23 Bruess — 21 Berge
20 Wiley — 7 Sackrison — 11 Louwerse
18 Gaulrapp — 10 Harrison — 15 Stewart
24 Mueller — 12 Galiardi — 16 Thompson

22 Davis — 5 Youds
4 Kilburg — 17 Friesen
28 Boe — 2 Canzanello

1 Zacharias
49 Tormey
31 Lee

(Mouillerat out [shoulder injury] after he was cross-checked into the boards in the first period Friday)

Minnesota State-Mankato 1 0 2 3

Colorado College 0 3 1 4

First period – 1. MSM, Stewart (Harrison), :23. Penalties – Testwuide, CC (interference), 9:59; Connelly, CC (slashing), 16:03; Youds, MSM (interference), 17:16.

Second – 2. CC, Rau (Walsky), 5:36, pp. 3. CC, McCulloch (Vlassopoulos, Prosser), 9:39, pp. 4. CC, Sweatt (Connelly, Rau), 19:08, pp. Penalties – Wiley, MSM (tripping), 4:44; Boe, MSM (tripping), 8:48; Walsky, CC (cross-checking), 10:52; Gannon, CC (slashing), 12:20; Harrison, MSM (interference), 18:37.

Third – 5. MSM, Louwerse (Berge, Davis), 7:29, pp. 6. MSM, Galiardi (unassisted), 9:14. 7. CC, Walsky (Sweatt), 11:08, pp. Penalties – Connelly, CC (high-sticking), 5:42; Fredheim, CC (slashing), 6:16; Prosser, CC (10-minute misconduct), 7:29; Irwin, MSM (hooking), 9:57; DeBoer, CC (interference), 14:04; Boe, MSM (tripping), l7:32.

Shots on goal – MSM 8-4-9-21. CC 6-12-5-23. Power-play Opportunities – MSM 1 of 7, CC 4 of 6. Goalies – MSM, Zacharias 6-9-4 (23 shots, 19 saves), 5-3-2. CC, Bachman 7-4-7 (21 shots, 18 saves), 6-2-3. A – 4,797. T – 2:18. Referees – Todd Anderson, Brad Shepherd. Linesmen – Jonathan Morrison, Tony Czech.