Michigan Tech senior Alex Smith (20) shoots on Northern Michigan goalie Nolan Kent on Saturday, Feb. 29, 2020, in Houghton, Mich. (David Archambeau/The Daily Mining Gazette)

HOUGHTON — Michigan Tech’s four-game win streak came to an end with a 3-2 loss on Senior Night to rival Northern Michigan on Saturday.

The Huskies (19-15-3, 14-12-2 WCHA) played their familiar brand of hockey — rallying in the third period of a one-goal game. But with the loss, the Huskies are 10-8 in one-goal games this season. The loss also dropped Tech to 5-9-2 at home.

And it was a game Tech needed for a chance to host a WCHA playoff series.

“It was a winner-take-all type of environment. We were on home ice. We haven’t played great on our home ice for some reason all year,” Huskies head coach Joe Shawhan said. “I’m not sure. Maybe we have to look a little bit deeper into that. We seem to be a better road team for whatever reason.”

Tech secured the No. 6 seed with the loss and will visit the No. 3 Wildcats for a second straight weekend in the best-of-three series. Puck drop is 7:07 p.m. Friday and 6:07 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday (if necessary).

Saturday was a relief for the Wildcats, as the win was only their second in the last eight games. The Huskies smacked the Wildcats in the mouth with an 8-4 win at the Berry Events Center on Friday.

“There’s a lot of emotion going into the game. We’ve had a tough stretch,” Northern Michigan head coach Grant Potulny said. “We talked about it before the game. You work all year at the beginning of the year to put yourself in a position where you have a chance to have home ice. Came down to your biggest rival, on the road to complete that home ice opportunity. I thought the effort was outstanding. The small things — shot blocking, face-offs, advancing pucks — things you have to do to win. If you want to win on the road you have to bring your team defense.”

Darien Craighead scored the winning goal for the Wildcats (18-14-4, 16-11-1) on a whirlwind sequence late in the third of Saturday’s game.

The sequence started with Northern goalie Nolan Kent going far out of his crease to play the puck. Michigan Tech freshman center Logan Pietila also chased after the puck. Kent got to it first and tried to shoot it up the ice. It instead deflected into Pietila, who spun around while going towards the net. He didn’t see the puck, which glided at his feet with him into the corner.

“I couldn’t see the puck and I thought the puck was just going to kind of slide right in because of the momentum, it was going to take it,” Potulny said. “I was thinking boy what a way to lose the game. Immediately after it goes the other way.”

Wildcats defenseman Rylan Yarmeko got control of the puck, turned it up ice to Craighead, who took it into the Tech zone in a 2-on-1 and wristed it high past Huskies senior goalie Matt Jurusik. Yaremko and Kent got the assists.

Craighead skated to center ice and made a flag-planting gesture with his stick at the center ice face-off dot.

“Unfortunate goal at the end there,” Shawhan said. “We were going for that loose puck there. Everybody jumped. Goalie shot it into Pietila. He couldn’t find it or else he’s tapping it in.”

Up to that point, the Huskies had rallied to tie the game. Sophomore right wing Tommy Parrottino scored his 10th of the season on a wrist shot just inside the right circle near the slot.

“We do it a couple times in practice,” Parrottino said of the neutral zone play taking the bounce pass from Bliss. “So yeah, we’ve done it before.”

Potulny challenged the play for an offsides. The puck appeared to fully cross the blue line just one frame of the video replay before Parrottino’s left skate lifted off the ice in stride. Any sooner and he would have been offside and the goal would be waved off. Potulny’s lengthy discussion after the replay review was about making sure he had his timeout, he said.

“I wasn’t arguing if it was on or off. They told me the video was inconclusive, so I thought they couldn’t see the video, so I wanted my timeout back,” Potulny said. “Then after the game, I said I just wanted to clarify with you I’m right on this. And they said we could see, we just couldn’t tell. I said oh, OK — a total misunderstanding. I wasn’t arguing if it was on or off. I was arguing that I wanted my timeout back.”

The Wildcats had taken over the lead in the second period despite throwing away multiple power-play opportunities.

Senior defenseman Keegan Ford’s night ended prematurely with his checking from behind major and game misconduct seven minutes into the second period. A stabilizing presence on the Huskies’ blue line, the team felt the impact of his absence, Shawhan said.

“It was big. That changed a lot of things. He’s a special teams performer,” Shawhan said. “Plays a lot of roles for us. That was a big deal. As it turned out, it wasn’t a key part of the game other than losing his presence.”

Minutes before Ford left, Wildcats senior center Luke Voltin tipped a shot from the point by Brandon Schultz for his eighth of the year. The scoring opportunity came off a defensive zone turnover.

Fifty-eight seconds later, sophomore center Garrett Klee pressured MTU sophomore defenseman Colin Swoyer, who lost an edge and fell. Freshman Andre Ghantous went behind the night, got the puck and barely snuck a shot between Jurusik’s closed pads for the lead.

Despite scoring two goals for the lead, it seemed the Wildcats left more on the table as they drew penalties to negate the five-minute power-play. Griffin Loughran went to the box for roughing the same time as Ford’s penalty. About 15 seconds later, Wildcats defenseman and captain Philip Beaulieu went to the box for tripping, giving Tech a 4-on-3 power play.

Later in the second, Huskies freshman Jake Crespi missed a bodycheck and taking the legs out from under a Wildcat, and drew a tripping penalty. The Wildcats again threw away a power-play when Loughran returned the box for interference.

It was some bad luck in the second that saved the Huskies from worse luck.

But the worse luck came in the third when Pietila didn’t locate the puck around his feet with Kent a few strides from his own crease and a yawning net waiting for the go-ahead goal late in the game. Instead, 10 seconds later, the Huskies faced a one-goal deficit and 1:03 left in the game.

Freshman defenseman Brenden Datema scored his first career collegiate goal that gave the Huskies a lead in the first period.

Greyson Reitmeier won the draw back to the 6-foot-5 Datema, who stepped into an atomic slap shot that beat Kent stick side.

Datema’s goal seemed all the Huskies needed to keep momentum rolling after Fridya’s dominant win at the Berry Events Center.

“Finally got one by somebody without getting blocked,” Shawhan said of Datema. “It was a quick play from the face-off. Greyson did a great job to get it out to the D before they had a chance to get out and cover him.”

The Wildcats attempted 41 shots in the second period. Of those, 10 were blocked and one hit the post. Jurusik made 14 saves in the second and 26 total. Shawhan said the defensive zone turnovers crippled Tech in the second.

“We didn’t manage the puck well,” Shawhan said. “I thought our defensemen managed the puck well in the first period. We made our plays, we made our clears. In the second period we didn’t. I think that was a lot of it. They forced turnovers deep in our zone and we were still trying to make plays that weren’t there. I credit them. They got into some seams and won a play. The plays were on turnovers deep in our zone. We had chances to make plays. We just didn’t. Something you still have to learn from with a young team and continue to grow.”

After Craighead’s late go-ahead goal, the Huskies went into desperation mode. Tech pulled pulled Jurusik and sent out Trenton Bliss, who scored a hat trick Friday’s win, but the Huskies never found the tying goal.

Kent made 22 saves in the win for the Wildcats. Potulny said Kent’s ability to bounce back Saturday night after enduring the 8-4 loss Friday was key.

“He’s done that the second half of the year quite a bit,” Potulny said. “He’s had an interesting year. To start the year, him and John were going back and forth to see who was going to get more games. We played Mankato before Christmas and he played a great game.

“… At that point, he kind of solidified himself. What that did was I think it affected his mental approach. When he kind of solidified himself as the guy, it affected his play because he wasn’t as mental hungry or whatever you want to say. He had a tough stretch there. Tonight, he really played well in a tough building to play in.”

Michigan Tech faithful bid farewell to the team’s five seniors after Saturday’s game, including co-captain and Houghton native Raymond Brice, co-captain Alex Smith, Keegan Ford, Todd Kiilunen and Matt Jurusik.

“They’ve been great. They reestablished our locker room and that’s extremely important for us,” Shawhan said.

Alaska and Bowling Green tied at 49 points to take the No. 4-5 seeds. The Nanooks host Bowling Green. Lake Superior State won four of its last five games for the No. 7 seed. The Lakers visit No. 2 Bemidji State. Alaska Anchorage took the No. 8 seed and visit WCHA champion No. 1 Minnesota State, who lifted the MacNaughton Cup after Saturday’s 4-1 win at Bemidji State.

NMU 0 2 1 — 3

MTU 1 0 1 — 2

First Period–1, MTU, Datema (Reitmeier), 17:24.

Second Period–2, NMU, Voltin (Schultz), 4:08. 3, NMU, Ghantous, 5:06. Penalties–NMU, Loughran (roughing), 6:57. MTU, Ford (checking from behind major), 6:57. MTU, Ford (misconduct), 6:57. NMU, Beaulieu (tripping), 7:14. NMU, Sorensen (hooking), 10:14. MTU, Crespi (tripping), 14:15. NMU, Loughran (interference), 14:47.

Third Period–4, MTU, Parrottino (Bliss, Swoyer), 15:15. 5, NMU, Craighead (Yaremko, Kent), 18:57.

Shots on Goal–NMU 5-16-8–29. MTU 5-11-8–24.

Power-play Opportunities–NMU 0 of 2. MTU 0 of 3.

Goalies–NMU, Kent 4-11-7–22. MTU, Jurusik 5-14-7–26.

Penalties-minutes–NMU 4-8. MTU 3-17.

A–4,053. T–2:15.

Referees–Robert Lukkason, Brady Johnson. Linesmen–Eric Froberg, Jamie Grace.