HOUGHTON — Isaac Gordon stayed hot with his stick as Michigan Tech gained a 3-2 victory over visiting Northern Michigan University to open their Upper Peninsula rivalry college hockey series at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena on Friday night.

Gordon scored for the second straight game and third time in seven games, with the other two Huskies goals coming on the man-advantage, both off the stick of freshman winger Elias Janssen.

Despite all the positives, Tech struggled in the game’s final 2 1/2 minutes after the Wildcats pulled goaltender Ryan Ouellette for an extra attacker.

“We have to develop poise with the game on the line,” MTU coach Joe Shawhan said about that final stretch of the game. “I think you saw we iced it, what, three times? At least two of them we had absolute total control.

“Maybe Lauri Raiman, the first one, the guy might have been on him. He might (have), (so Raiman) didn’t have a chance really to flip it out or anything like that.

“We have to learn as a team, ‘OK, let’s keep moving out of our zone, give ourselves good areas to retrieve pucks, transition it. Don’t get two or three guys caught in the forecheck. Don’t pinch with the game on the line, and give them a 2-on-1 or a 2-on-1 at the end of a power play, when we have a one-goal lead in the third. Don’t take a 10-minute misconduct.”

Grayden Slipec scored both goals for the Wildcats. His first came with 5:29 left in the second period on a broken play in front of Huskies goaltender Ryan Manzella.

His second came at the end of a Huskies’ power play early in the third. That goal came at the end of a 2-on-1 after Aidyn Hutchinson created an odd-man rush by jumping out of the penalty box and colliding with a Huskies defender in Michigan Tech’s offensive zone.

Shawhan was quick to point out that the Wildcats, who struggled for most of the season, are playing better now.

“Northern Michigan’s good,” Shawhan said. “They’ve done a great job. They’ve done a great job. You give them a chance, you give them a 2-on-1, they’re going to put the puck in the net.

“The growth in that team is absolutely off the charts, in my opinion. I keep watching them, and they just keep getting better and better. They can defend hard as they get maturity, get a few more players in there. They’re doing a great job there.”

Janssen scored the game-winner on a power play in the third period when he knocked a rebound past Ouellette with 6:12 remaining.

Gordon picked up the primary assist on the play.

Janssen’s first tally of the night came in the middle frame when he found a spot on the back door on the power play and sophomore center Max Koskipirtti got the puck across quickly to him for the goal at 11:47.

Gordon’s tally came in the late stages of the first period when he batted a rebound past Ouellette at 15:31. Gordon had gone into the zone on the forecheck, and then got around to the back side of the net, where he could bury a shot that snuck past the Wildcats’ netminder.

“I think, just now that the first one went in, in Bowling Green a while ago, (you) kind of just loosen up on your stick a little bit, maybe kind of drop some of the expectations that I came in with at the start of the year, as they weighed pretty heavy on me when I couldn’t score at the start of the year, or I was getting those chances. But, I think really it comes down to just knowing that I’m getting the chances and at least I know I’m playing.”

Ouellette made 33 saves in the loss for the Wildcats. Manzella stopped 18 for the Huskies in earning the win.