Michigan Tech’s Colin Swoyer (24), Seamus Donohue (2) and Alex Smith (20) celebrate with Brian Halonen, right, after Halonen’s goal in the third period against Alaska Anchorage on Friday, Dec. 7, 2019, in Houghton, Mich. (David Archambeau/The Daily Mining Gazette)

HOUGHTON — Michigan Tech couldn’t buy a goal for much of Friday night.

Brian Halonen stepped forward late in the third and footed the bill with two goals, rallying the Huskies in a 2-1 win over Alaska Anchorage on Friday night.

The win was Tech’s sixth one-goal win this season. The Huskies have won six of their last seven games — five of those wins by one goal. Alaska Anchorage, on the other hand, is 0-4 after Friday in one-goal games, including an overtime loss to Maine on Oct. 12.

“I thought we played hard,” Michigan Tech head coach Joe Shawhan said. “Until we get to the point where we’re scoring more goals and take the pressure off, it doesn’t matter who we play, they’re all gonna be like that.”

Sophomore left wing Trenton Bliss said the one-goal wins are helping the young team gain confidence.

“Being able to win these one-goal games, that’s something we weren’t able to do last year,” he said. “Especially with a young team, we’re still growing every day, getting better every day. Although it felt like we could’ve won this game 7-1, we can take a lesson from this.”

It was a scoreless game until Alaska Anchorage center Nick Wicks intercepted a pass at mid-ice and scored on a breakaway four minutes into the third.

On a power-play, Halonen tipped a Bliss shot for the tying goal with six minutes left in the game.

“I celebrated, we all came together and he was like ‘I tipped that.’ I was like ah, man,” Bliss said with a smile. “We’re still pumped, you know. A goal’s a goal. It was a great battle by all five guys. We were all battling and set it up. (Eric) Gotz was able to make a really nice play cross-ice to me and I found that lane to shoot it and Brian got a tip on it past the goalie.”

A minute and a half later, Halonen fought through coverage and scored off a one-handed backhand pass from Justin Misiak.

“Incredible play by Misiak — little delayed move on the defenseman that gave him a body edge and he’s a great skater,” Shawhan said. “He got outside speed on him and protected the puck, one hand on his stick, and threw it across and Brian did a great job fighting through coverage and got there. I believe he got the winning goal a couple weeks ago on the power play. Good play by two very good players.”

Tech had pounded the Anchorage net with 42 shots. Bliss said there was no revelation before finally scoring in the third — the team just kept putting pressure on Seawolves goalie Kris Carlson.

“We knew once we get that first one, we were gonna get more and more,” Bliss said. “That’s kind of hockey sometimes. Their goalie played really well and we were trying to solve him all game. Finally we got that opportunity and then, you know, a couple minutes later, Brian was able to get his second one of the night and eventual game-winner. That was just huge.”

Carlson made 40 saves as Tech’s offensive pressure eventually wore down the Seawolves’ defense.

“He’s been playing really well. We’re not a team that’s very offensively gifted up front,” Anchorage head coach Matt Curley said. “We need a lot of help on our back end. That starts with the guy in the pipes. I thought he did a real nice job tonight and gave us a chance to win the game. I’m disappointed we weren’t able to close it out for him. He certainly gave us a chance down the stretch.”

Carlson made more than a handful of quality saves, including close scoring chances, shots through traffic and shots off rebounds to secure the win.

But the costly mistake nearly doomed Tech early in the third.

With the Huskies on the power play four minutes into the third period, an errant Colin Swoyer pass to the middle of the ice was intercepted by Wicks as Swoyer went to the bench. Wicks skated in alone on MTU goalie Matt Jurusik and snapped a wrist shot past his stick side.

Wicks’ goal gave the Seawolves a momentum boost as the Huskies had severely out-shot Anchorage all night. Wicks’ goal came off the old adage of keeping the stick on the ice, because anything can happen. When Swoyer extended with a hard cross-ice pass across the middle, Wicks was already in position to go the other way with it.

“We talk about good habits all the time just like everybody else,” Curley said. “When you do good things over and over and over and over again, you will be rewarded and he was for that. It was nice for him to get it.”

But the Seawolves’ mistakes proved to be more costly.

Anchorage had 27 penalty minutes on the night. The Huskies were 1 of 6 on the power play, the lone tally being Halonen’s tying goal. It was all Tech needed to break the momentum.

“On the same token, making mistakes, we made two of them with taking the unfortunate penalty in the offensive zone and a turnover in our own zone,” Curley said. “It was one of those nights whatever team made the last one, unfortunately, that was us.”

Anchorage pulled Carlson with about 2:10 left in the game, but Tanner Schachle was given a checking from behind major and a game misconduct with 45 seconds remaining. The Seawolves pulled Carlson after for an even-strength opportunity. The Huskies, as they had all night, kept Anchorage’s puck possession out of the middle of the ice.

“Trying to get one there late. If there was a disappointing element to tonight’s game, it was that we weren’t able to establish any zone time,” Curley said. “Tech did an outstanding job. They didn’t give us a sniff or a chance to get in there and that’s a credit to them. Those are positions you want to try to avoid. You want to be the ones to try to protect the lead. Hopefully that will be the case tomorrow.”

The Huskies had power-play opportunities with good chances most of the night. Carlson came up big almost every time.

Alaska Anchorage had a few good scoring chances five minutes into the game, getting four straight quality shots on goal and testing Jurusik early on.

Jurusik ended the night with 17 saves for his eighth win of the season. Friday was his seventh straight start.

Curley said the Seawolves will try to play the same blue-collar game Saturday to end 2019 with a win.

“That’s been the story of our year — losing tight games unfortunately more often than winning them,” Curley said. “That’ll be a challenge for this group. I believe in this group. We have a good group of kids in there. Being the last game for us this first semester, this first half, there’s nothing to save it for. I’m hopeful these guys know they can get a job done and that’s the effort that we’ll play with tomorrow night.”

Bliss was tripped up in the third and landed on his shoulder. He took his time getting back to his feet and coasted to the bench but returned to player later in the period.

“Skates got tangled and just fell directly on my shoulder, just a little stinger,” he said. “Everything’s good. I think all of us have bumps and bruises, but you know, we’ll be ready to go tomorrow.”

UAA 0 0 1 — 1

MTU 0 0 2 — 2

First Period — Penalties–UAA, Sofo (cross-checking), 12:31. UAA, Mitchell (charging), 15:59.

Second Period — Penalties–MTU, Crespi (interference), 6:02. MTU, Swoyer (roughing), 15:29. UAA, Lantz (high-sticking), 16:17.

Third Period — 1, UAA, Wicks, 4:01 (sh). 2, MTU, Halonen (Bliss, Gotz), 13:47 (pp). 3, MTU, Halonen (Misiak), 15:13. Penalties–UAA, Masson (holding the stick), 2:55. UAA, Robillard (checking from behind), 13:01. UAA, Schachle (checking from behind), 19:15. UAA, Schachle (game misconduct), 19:15.

Shots on goal–UAA 6-8-4–18. MTU 13-16-13–42

Power-play Opportunities–UAA 0 of 2; MTU 1 of 6

Goalies–UAA, Carlson 13-16-11–40 saves. MTU, Jurusik 6-8-3–17.

A–2,689. T–2:10.

Referees–Scott Roth, Daniel Kovarik. Linesmen–Dan Juopperi, Matthew Hampton.