After a four-week break, men's ACHA Division II hockey returned to the ice Friday night for a 5-2 loss to Montana State at the Centene Community Ice Center in Maryland Heights, Missouri.

The Lions gave up the first goal of the contest late in the first and fell behind 2-0 in the opening seconds of the middle frame before Michael Mullen put Lindenwood on the board at the 51-second mark on a play set up by Stanley Lucas and Jacob Behnen.

The Lions were back in the game, but a costly turnover led to an unassisted score from the Bobcats just 37-seconds later and Montana State expanded the advantage to 4-1 at the 5:25 mark before Zac Maupin sounded the horn for Lindenwood, assisted by Gage Vierzba and Ryan Granville at 8:25.

The second period wrapped up with the Lions trailing 4-2 and with the game getting chippy, they had multiple chances to pull closer on the power play in the third, but Montana State kept the puck out of the net despite being outshot 19-5 in the final 20-minutes. The Bobcats added some insurance in the final seconds of regulation for the final margin of victory.

Lindenwood outshot Montana State 47-30 overall and Ethan Paulin-Hatch stopped 25 of the 30 shots he faced in the loss for the Lions, who went scoreless on five power play chances while holding the Bobcats scoreless on two man-advantage opportunities.

Lindenwood dropped to 18-6 on the season while Montana State improved to 23-2. The two squads wrap up the series Saturday night beginning at 8:35 p.m. at the Centene Community Ice Center.