Same opponent, different venue, same result.

Following a weekend sweep at St. Cloud the previous week, the Minot Minotauros welcomed the Norsemen to Maysa Arena and proceeded to once again come away with a pair of victories.

The Minotauros stretched their season-long winning streak to four games with a 4-3 victory on Friday, Nov. 7, and a 5-4 win on Saturday to climb over the Norsemen in the standings. Minot now sits in fifth place in the eight-team Central Division and is just two points behind North Iowa for the final playoff spot after a tough start to the season.

On Friday, the Tauros scored four of the first five goals and hung on late after St. Cloud scored twice in the second half of the third period to cut the lead down to one. Mario Fate scored the lone goal in the first period just 25 seconds into the contest.

St. Cloud’s Gabriel Bugeaud netted the equalizer before Chase Pavlesichi scored his first goal of the season to give the Tauros a 2-1 lead heading into the second intermission.

The Tauros (7-7-3) netted a pair of power-play goals to open the third period and extend their lead to 4-1. Dominic Pajkic and Brady Zugec found the back of the net.

St. Cloud (6-8-3) made one final charge. William Esterbrooks scored on the power play with 9:56 left and Samuel Misak made it 4-3 with 7:40 to go, but the Norsemen couldn’t get the equalizer past Minot goaltender Devin Rustle, who finished with 30 saves.

Both teams finished with 33 shots on goal.

Zugec continued his dominance of St. Cloud the last four games with two more goals. The Tauros forward now has nine goals and nine assists this season, with six goals and two assists coming in the last four games.

His first of the night tied the game 2-2 with 57 seconds left in the second period and his second came on the power play 1:10 into the third to give the Tauros a 3-2 lead. Jakub Habla stretched Minot’s lead to 4-2 just a few minutes later and Briggs Knott sealed the weekend home sweep with his first goal of the season with 13:02 left.

Brian Cooke earned the win in net for the Tauros with a 24-save performance. Wesley Jefferson-Swint II made 31 saves for the Norsemen.

The teams combined for 93 penalty minutes on Saturday.

The Tauros are off next weekend before returning to the ice for a weekend series with the Austin Bruins at home beginning on Friday, Nov. 21, at 7:35 p.m. at Maysa Arena.