Michigan Tech junior Alec Broetzman (29) shoots against Lake Superior State goaltender Mareks Mitens on Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021, in Houghton, Mich. (David Archambeau/For the Gazette)

HOUGHTON — No. 18 Michigan Tech scored a late tying goal only to be disallowed by an offsides, and just like that, the Huskies’ six-game win streak ended with a 3-1 loss Tuesday afternoon to No. 20 Lake Superior State.

The Huskies (14-6-1, 4-3) appeared to have finally found even footing with the Lakers in tying the game with 2:04 remaining on a tap-in by sophomore Tristan Ashbrook. It was disallowed because of an offsides after a brief official review.

Shortly after, the Lakers sealed the win on an empty netter.

“I kind of saw TA out of the corner of my eye, but it was all kind of happening so quick I didn’t get to check to see if it was onside or not,” said Huskies junior forward Trenton Bliss. “They didn’t call it, so we kept going and made a nice play. We thought it was going to be the game-tying goal. We were getting great scoring chances. It was devastating that being called off. We had our opportunities. They capitalized and we didn’t.”

LSSU (10-4-3, 4-3) iced the puck and took a timeout with 1:51. Tech pulled goaltender Blake Pietila and the Lakers sealed the game with an empty-net goal 24 seconds later.

It’s Tech’s first loss since Jan. 30 at Bowling Green and only the Huskies’ third loss since mid-December.

“I thought our guys played well. We weren’t able to score,” Michigan Tech head coach Joe Shawhan said. “We got the one at the end there — disallowed — that was just kind of the way the game went. First goal they got, the referee looked to be kicking the puck away from him so he wouldn’t be interfering with the play, and kicked it right to their player who went in and buried it. Other than a 2-on-1 we gave up early in the second period, we didn’t give up much for the game or generate enough to have more success. I credit Lake Superior for the job they did.”

The Huskies were a step behind Lake Superior State to begin the game and fell behind when the Lakers got a fortunate bounce. The Lakers entered the zone along the right wall and the puck kicked out towards the slot off the linesman. The deflection put Tech defenders out of position as they were preparing for a breakout. Instead, the puck bounced out to Lakers freshman left wing Benito Posa, who skated into the high slot and wristed a shot past Pietila for a 1-0 lead with 3:25 remaining in the first.

“That was an unfortunate play,” Shawhan said. “We were going to retrieve that puck and like I mentioned, that official, kind of was kicking it away from him, and kicked it to a player who took a step and shot it. He might not have been able to adjust his angle.”

The Lakers were strong in taking away time and space from the Huskies. The Huskies had at least four point-blank chances in the slot where Lakers defenders poked away the puck or deflected a Huskies shot.

Despite that, the Huskies battled through all afternoon and outshot the Lakers 36-20.

Sault Ste. Marie junior Ashton Calder made it a 2-0 game just 33 seconds into the second period. Lakers center Louis Boudon made a stretch pass to left wing Pete Veillette, who carried the puck along the left wing into the zone and saucered a pass over a Huskies defender for Calder’s tap-in. It was his ninth goal of the season.

Pietila finished with 17 saves. Lakers goaltender Marek Mitens finished with 35 saves.

“I thought he played well for how little he was tested in the game,” Shawhan said of Pietila. “He probably had about eight, nine scoring chances in the game and that should be a one-goal game against — two goals maximum — and that’s what he allowed.”

Bliss scored his 10th of the year about seven minutes after Calder’s goal. Senior center Justin Misiak hustled into the Lakers zone after a dump-in and won the race to the puck, he centered it to junior Brian Halonen in front of the net, who was overcome by a Lakers defender and the puck was poked back. Mitens committed to Halonen and went down as Bliss followed up the play from the left wing and had an easy shot on a yawning net to make it a 2-1 game. Misiak and Halonen got the assists.

“Mis had a really good jump there to the puck and made a really nice play to Brian,” Bliss said. “I was just being patient, I knew Brian was going to get a shot off. I think either a defender got a stick on it or he kind of lost it and it went to me and it was just kind of one of those plays where it’s just the right place at the right time. It was good for us, a little momentum.”

While the Huskies managed 36 shots on goal, the game was fast-paced with a lot of stick checking. Both teams took away time and space from each other, with the Lakers trapping the Huskies in the neutral zone. The majority of Huskies shots came from an offensive zone entry, an initial shot followed by one or two rebound tries before the Lakers turned the puck up the ice. The Huskies had multiple quality looks, including power-play opportunities in the second period with one shot trickling through the crease and just wide of the post.

The Huskies also hit the post in the third.

“I thought we created enough offense to score three goals in a game,” Shawhan said. “We had plenty of chances through the first two periods with our power play. Then we had some good looks in the third, hit a goalpost. Statistically speaking, we had enough offense we needed to score the goals. We just didn’t. Their goaltender, I thought, played very well.”

Tuesday was the first time an opponent scored more than one goal against Tech since a 6-4 win at Ferris State on Feb. 2. Tech has allowed more than one goal in just five games this season.

Tech had a 4-on-3 chance with a shot in the second period that went just inches wide of the net. Another chance, a point-black weak-side tap-in pass fluttered to the corner.

“It was just kind of a frustrating game,” Bliss said. “We felt like we were generating those Grade-A scoring chances and it just wasn’t going in the net. You kind of learn from this experience and hoping to play better this weekend against Bemidji.”

The Huskies will have to put the loss behind quickly with Bemidji State visiting for a weekend series.

“Put this one behind. It hurts, for sure,” Shawhan said. “Put this one behind and continue growing the way we’ve been growing.”

LSSU 1 1 1 — 3

MTU 0 1 0 — 1

First Period — Scoring — 1, LSSU, Posa, (Kaelble), 16:35.

Second Period — Scoring — 2, LSSU, Calder, (Veillette, Boudon), 0:33. 3, MTU, Bliss, (Halonen, Misiak), 7:15. Penalties — MTU, Swoyer, (holding), 8:44. LSSU, Posa, (interference), 9:01. LSSU, Veillette, (hooking), 9:38. LSSU, Henrikson, (holding), 18:09.

Third Period — Scoring — 4, LSSU, Miura, (Eriksson, Nordqvist), 18:33. Penalties — MTU, Nardella, (boarding), 1:41. LSSU, Henrikson, (tripping), 4:46.

Shots on Goal–LSSU 8-6-6–20. MTU 13-15-8–36.

Power-play Opportunities — LSSU 0 of 2. MTU 0 of 4.

Goalies — LSSU, Mitens, 13-14-8–35. MTU, Pietila, 7-5-5–17.

A–300. T–2:05.

Referees–Daniel Kovarik, Scott Roth. Linesmen–Jamie Grace, Kyle Domin.