DULUTH -- Minnesota-Duluth scored the first four goals en route to a 6-2 win against UND on Friday in the opening game of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association first-round playoff series.
Emmanuelle Blais scored four goals to lead the Bulldogs, ranked No. 2 in the country.
The Bulldogs can wrap up the best-of-three series today with a win. Duluth improved to 25-8-2 while the Sioux dropped to 8-21-4.
Duluth scored at 17:54 of the first period with a man advantage. It was the 23rd goal of the season for Blais, who picked up assists from Jaime Rasmussen and Sarah Murray.
The Bulldogs put the game out of reach in the second with two goals, one coming again from Blais.
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UND cut the deficit to 4-1 when Margo Miller scored a shorthanded goal at 7:06 of the final period. The Sioux made it 4-2 on Candace Molle's goal at 7:23. It was her first goal of the season.
The Bulldogs outshot the Sioux 48-32.
UND's Jorid Daginrud finished with 42 saves, 19 coming in the first period. Duluth goalie Jennifer Harss stopped 30 shots, 17 in the second -- UND's best period.
The Bulldogs were 3-for-6 on the power play, while the Sioux were 0-for-5.
In other WCHA first-round playoff games, St. Cloud State downed Bemidji State 3-0; Ohio State beat Wisconsin 3-2 in overtime and Minnesota outskated Minnesota State-Mankato 8-5.
