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Tauros get back on track against Brookings

After two consecutive overtime losses, the Minot Minotauros were beyond frustrated. After falling to Brookings 6-5 in overtime a night ago, the Minotauros rebounded with a 4-2 victory on Saturday at Maysa Arena.

“No question this was big,” Minotauros coach Marty Murray said. “We wanted to stop the bleeding here. It was pretty nice to get the win tonight.”

Tyler Jeanson started the scoring for the Minotauros in the first period, taking advantage of prime position in the slot to beat Brookings goaltender Josh Boyko. The goal marked Jeanson’s first of the season, with assists coming from Zack Bross and Nate Pionk.

Later in the period, the Tauros increased the lead to 2-0 after Miroslav Mucha scored his second goal of the season.

Brookings trimmed the deficit to one after forward Brandon Kruse deked out Tauros goaltender Eric Dop and deposited the puck into the right corner of the net.

In the second period, Minot took firm control of the contest.

“Our second periods have been pretty strong lately,” Murray said. “Probably the strongest period we’ve played in all of our games. It was good to get some separation there, but we can’t be satisfied with this win because we have to be worried about next week as well.”

Rookie forward Alex Adams continued his hot start to the season by beating Boyko for his third goal of the season and Derek Frentz extended the lead to three goals with a snipe from the right corner of Brookings’ zone.

Doug Larson scored a power play goal in the third period to get the Blizzard deficit down to 4-2, but that was as close as Brookings would get.

Rookie goaltender Dop earned the win in the net for the Minotauros, racking up 33 saves on 35 shots.

“He’s solid for a rookie,” Murray said. “He played a great game when we needed a big performance from our goalie.”

Meanwhile, Boyko had 40 saves in 44 chances. The Minotauros outshot Brookings 44-35.

With the win, the Tauros (7-1-2) remain in first place in the North American Hockey League Central Division with 16 points. Minot is back in action against Brookings (4-4-1) for the third straight matchup at 7 p.m. on Friday in Brookings.

Garrick Hodge covers Minot State athletics, the Minot Minotauros and high school sports. Follow him on Twitter @Garrick_Hodge.

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