A night after squandering an early two-goal lead and missing out on two points in the Central Division standings, the Minot Minotauros flipped the script in their series finale against the St. Cloud Norsemen.

Riley Mullen netted his first goal with the Tauros midway through the third period to force overtime, and Ty James scored the game-winning goal in the shootout for a 3-2 victory on Saturday, Jan. 17, at Mason City Arena.

The Tauros rallied in regulation and did so again in the shootout session. Minot fell behind after the first round when Minot’s Lucas Ryen had his attempt saved by North Iowa goaltender Brock Devlin and the Bulls’ Denis Kuzmenkov beat Tauros goaltender Brian Cooke. Minot’s Ivan Sidorov and North Iowa’s Denis Hodad both had their shots stopped in the second round. Arseni Vorobyov kept Minot alive with a goal in the third round and Parker Osborn missed the net with the chance to win it for the Bulls. James scored to put the Tauros ahead and Cooke made the save on Michael Malatino to secure the extra point in the standings.

Sidorov continued his torrid scoring pace, netting a power-play goal at 13:19 of the first period to give Minot a 1-0 lead. Sidorov has scored a goal in each of the last four games, including a two-goal game against Minnesota last weekend.

The Bulls scored twice exactly one minute apart to take a 2-1 lead into the second period intermission. Osborn and Malatino were the goal scorers.

Cooke finished with 31 saves, making five stops in the overtime session.

The Tauros couldn’t hold the lead on Friday despite jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the first period. Sidorov and Lucca Ori gave the Tauros some early momentum, but that faded with four unanswered goals by the Bulls.

Fugi Suzuki potted two goals in the second period, with a goal from Malatino sandwiched in between. Suzuki’s second of the net gave the Bulls a 3-2 lead with 11:05 remaining in the middle stanza.

Denis Hodas scored on the power play two minutes into the third period to push the lead to 4-2. Minot quickly answered with Mackley Morelli’s second goal with the Tauros a minute later, but the Tauros couldn’t net the equalizer.

The Bulls held a 29-25 edge in shots on goal.

Cooke suffered the loss in a 25-save performance. Aaron Sachs got the start for the Bulls, but exited the game late in the second period. He finished with eight saves before Devlin took over. Devlin stopped 14 of 15 shots he faced.

The Tauros host Bismarck on Friday, Jan. 23, at Maysa Arena at 7:35 p.m.