HOUGHTON — Minnesota State was bound to wake up at some point.

On Monday night, the No. 6 Mavericks’ offense awoke and dominated play in a 2-0 win over Michigan Tech.

If it weren’t for sophomore goaltender Blake Pietila, it may have been a worse outcome. He made 35 saves in the loss.

After carving out a 3-1 win on Sunday night, the Huskies were out-shot 17-1 in the second period as the Mavericks’ offense established momentum with sustained zone pressure.

Pietila had stopped 43 shots Sunday, but the Huskies’ offense was nowhere to be found, at least until the third period. After Tech absorbed penalty troubles, players that weren’t on penalty kill had a chance to rest and retake momentum. Tech had committed seven penalties, including its second major penalty in two games. Pietila’s performance during all the penalty kills kept the score close.

“Blake was excellent,” Michigan Tech assistant coach Dallas Steward said. “He was stopping pucks, he was clean. He was making saves through the traffic.”

Tech played Monday night without head coach Joe Shawhan behind the bench. A Tech spokesperson said Shawhan rested at home after feeling ill during Sunday’s game. Shawhan was not experiencing COVID-19 symptoms, the spokesperson said.

Tech took seven penalties, which meant a lot of the same penalty killers logged a lot more ice time, and the Mavericks peppered Huskies sophomore goaltender Blake Pietila.

“I think the biggest thing was really small details that they did,” Steward said. “They made some adjustments. They were trying to put it down our throat from the weak side. We had a gameplan to come out against it and how to break out against that. That forced a lot of contact situations which opened up what they already do very well. They try to wear teams down with that mentality sometimes. We prepared for it and talked about it. But we had to answer the bell to it.”

Pietila played calm in the crease despite Minnesota State closing in around the slot with screens and shots through traffic. Picking up the puck through traffic is something Pietila has been working on with former Huskies goaltender Jamie Phillips, who took in the Sunday-Monday series from the press box.

“I feel a lot better this year,” Pietila said. “I’m seeing the puck a lot better. I’m working on projecting where the puck is going through in traffic with Jamie.”

The Mavericks scored the first goal, a power-play tap-in by Todd Burgess, about halfway through the second. The Mavericks entered the zone with speed and the puck was poked off Reggie Lutz’s stick in the slot to Pietila’s right. Back-checking Huskies overskated the puck and Mavericks center Jake Jaremko picked it up and passed it across to Burgess in front of the net. Lutz and Jaremko assisted.

Mavericks right wing Cade Borchardt added a goal six minutes later, with assists from Nathan Smith and Andy Carroll.

Minnesota State out-shot Tech 37-19, but managed just four shots in the third period. The Huskies had finally broken through with some offensive zone pressure, and were desperate for a score after falling down by a pair of goals.

“We had a couple shifts where we actually had some O-zone play time and checks,” Steward said of the third period. “Some guys don’t play on the power-play — they got rested. That opened doors for them to get out and get active. We had shifts where we got out and created chances after the penalty kill. It wasn’t enough to put it in the net.”

The Huskies limited Minnesota State’s chances in the first period, protecting the slot and limiting second-chance shots. The Mavericks still managed a 16-8 shots advantage in the first.

Tech also had some quality scoring chances of its own, including a couple chances in which Huskies drove the net and deked to their backhand on Minnesota State goalie Dryden McKay, but fanned on the backhand shot.

But the Mavericks tightened in the neutral zone to start the second period, squeezing Tech out of offensive zone time.

Steward said Minnesota State’s ability to forecheck and get after the puck is the catalyst of its offense.

“They create a lot of traffic in situations,” Steward said. “We have to clear them out and do a block. Then they hunt pucks right off of that, whether it’s a block or a ricochet. They race you to the corner and win 50-50 races and come out of it and they do it again, do it again. They’re really good at it. They’re a well conditioned team.”

McKay made 19 saves for his second shutout of the season.

Michigan Tech visits Bemidji State on Saturday and Sunday.

Minnesota State 0 2 0 — 2

Michigan Tech 0 0 0 — 0

First Period — Penalties — MTU, Halonen, (high-sticking), 1:19. MTU, Datema, (kneeing major), 13:02. MSU, Duehr, (roughing), 18:24. MTU, Misiak, (roughing), 18:24. MSU, Livingstone, (interference), 19:04.

Second Period — 1, MSU, Burgess (Jaremko, Lutz), 11:39 (pp). 2, MSU, Borchardt (Smith, Carroll), 17:40.

Penalties — MTU, Datema, (holding), 4:03. MSU, Livingstone, (cross-checking), 9:17. MTU, Swoyer, (cross-checking), 10:11.

Third Period — Penalties — MSU, Spooner, (boarding), 3:25. MTU, Saretsky, (interference), 3:38. MTU, Thorne, (slashing), 5:30. MSU, Sandelin, (holding), 7:42. MSU, Pavel, (kneeing), 8:05.

Shots on goal–Minnesota State 16-17-4–37. Michigan Tech 8-1-10–19.

Power-play Opportunities–Minnesota State 1 of 6. Michigan Tech 0 of 5.

Goalies–Minnesota State, McKay, 8-1-10–19 saves. Michigan Tech, B. Pietila, 16-15-4–35.

A–0. T–2:15.

Referees–Daniel Kovarik, Mike Forys. Linesmen–Dan Juopperi, Paul Tunison.