The Chargers rallied from two goals down in the third to force a 4-4 tie with Alaska Anchorage at the Von Braun Center on Friday night.

Anchorage took two points in the WCHA standings after taking the shootout in two rounds, while UAH got its first league point of the season.

UAH (0-8-1 overall, 0-4-1-0 WCHA) reached a season high in goals and outshot the Seawolves 37-32. The Chargers will try again for their first victory in game two of the series at 7 p.m. on Saturday.

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“We’re always talking about possessing the puck and having the puck more,” UAH head coach Mike Corbett said. “It was our third straight game where we outshot a team and that’s exactly what we want to do.”

It was the second straight tie for Alaska Anchorage (1-4-2 overall, 1-1-1-1 WCHA).

UAH got on the board quickly as Josh Latta scored his first collegiate goal just 34 seconds in. Latta picked the puck inside the UAH blue line and broke away, beating UAA goaltender Kristian Stead.

Stead (33 saves) had to deal with other breakaways in the first period, but was able to make saves on Peyton Francis and Bauer Neudecker.

“We scored on a breakaway with the first goal,” Corbett said. “We had two other breakaways in the first period. We’re getting those opportunities and we have to capitalize on them.”

The Seawolves tied the game at 1-1 with 9:45 left in the first as Drake Glover tucked the puck around the left post by Mark Sinclair (28 saves).

UAA went up 2-1 on a Tanner Schachle goal at the 2:34 mark of the second, finishing a one-timer all alone in front following a UAH turnover.

The Chargers answered with 11:14 remaining when Christian Rajic, not long after serving an elbowing penalty, put in a rebound to tie the game at 2-2.

“We’re starting to put some minutes together,” said Rajic, who had a three-point night. “It’s just unfortunate that we can’t put 60. As soon as we do that, we’re going to start winning some games.”

UAH continued to put on pressure but two lapses gave UAA two-goal lead.

Jared Nash drove to the net, cut across Sinclair right to left and scored with 6:58 left in the second. Then after a bad pass in the UAH zone, Taylor Lantz made it 4-2 UAA with 3:05 to go.

“We made big mistakes that ended up in our net,” Corbett said. “Just being hard on pucks and being able to support each other — those are the biggest things we really need to work on going into tomorrow.”

But the Chargers roared to life in the third period.

Jack Jeffers notched his third goal of the season at the 1:32 mark, assisted by Rajic and Latta.

“That was huge for us,” Corbett said. “We didn’t feel great about ourselves going into the locker room after (the second period). We came out and got that goal early right after the power play expired and was able to roll with that.”

Then on a short 5-on-3 power play, the Chargers tied it up at 4-4 on Dayne Finnson’s first college goal, a one-timer blast from the right circle with 8:12 remaining in regulation. Jeffers and Rajic got the assists.

“I was lucky enough,” Finnson said. “Jack put it right there on the tapes so I just ripped it.”

“It started off with our leaders,” Finnson said of the third-period rally. “They pushed the pace in the third and we followed up with that.”

“Dayne was having a really good game and we just kind of rode him,” Corbett said. “He’s done a lot of it in practice and it’s nice for him to be rewarded.”

The Seawolves came close to winning late in regulation and in the first overtime, but Sinclair made crucial saves to force the tie.

No scoring occurred in the 3-on-3 overtime period, although the Chargers were shorthanded in the final 1:45.

In the shootout, Jack Jeffers and Christian Rajic did not score. Sinclair made a save in the first round against Nick Wicks, but Brayden Camrud scored in the second round to earn the extra point for UAA.

“We’re going to keep moving forward here, forget about this one, and look forward to tomorrow,” Finnson said.

The Chargers outshot the opponent for the first time this season, and even that wasn’t enough to get their first win of the season.

UAH lost to Northern Michigan 4-2 on Saturday, a sweep for the 20th-ranked Wildcats despite the best effort the Chargers have had all season.

The Chargers (0-8 overall, 0-4 WCHA) can take their frustrations out on Alaska Anchorage at the Von Braun Center next week.

NMU (6-1-1, 4-0-0) extended its unbeaten streak to seven games although the Chargers outshot the Wildcats 27-24. They needed another empty-net goal at the end before they could breathe.

The Wildcats scored first on the power play following a Max Coyle slashing penalty. Vincent De May beat UAH goaltender Mark Sinclair (19 saves) high on a one-timer from the left circle at the 8:16 mark

UAH tied the game with 4:22 remaining in the first. Austin Beaulieu did a spin move to a cross-ice pass to Christian Rajic, who scored his second goal of the season.

Beaulieu and Liam Izyk got the assists for their first points of the season, and for Izyk his college career.

NMU regained the lead at 2-1 early in the second period. Caleb Schroer slid away from the defender in the slot and beat Sinclair stick-side.

With 12:38 left in the second, Jarrett Lee was assessed a five-minute major penalty and game misconduct for checking from behind.

UAH quickly took advantage to tie the game at 2-2. Ten seconds into the long advantage, Tyr Thompson had an open net on the left side for his second goal of the season.

Latta was the one who found Thompson from the slot, netting his fifth assist of the year. Rajic also got an assist to become the first Charger with a multi-point game this season.

The Chargers used the power play to build a few shots on goal on NMU goaltender Nolan Kent (25 saves), but could not get the lead.

After the Wildcats killed the major penalty, they regained the lead a third time. Andre Ghantous had a loose puck come to him in the slot and scored with 6:45 left in the second.

UAH outshot NMU 15-8 in the second period, but was outscored 2-1.

The third period was mostly uneventful until the teams got a little chippy with under seven minutes to go, but there were no penalties called.

Like Friday, UAH pulled Sinclair with just over two minutes to go. And, like Friday, NMU sealed the win with an empty net goal with 58 seconds to go, this time by Griffin Loughran.

Pictured: Christian Rajic. Photo by Todd Thompson/Rivercat Photography.

The Chargers got more shots. The Chargers got more goals. But it wasn’t enough for the Chargers to get their first win.

UAH lost to Northern Michigan 5-3 on Friday in Marquette, Mich., dropping the Chargers to 0-7 on the season and 0-3 in WCHA play.

The shots on goal were 32 for each team. For UAH, it was more than double the 15.8 per-game average through its first six games.

NMU, ranked No. 20, improved to 5-1-1 overall and 3-0-0 in the WCHA.

Game two of the series is Saturday at 5 p.m. Central Time.

It didn’t take long for the Chargers to finally get their first lead of the season. Josh Latta centered the puck from the left circle to Jack Jeffers, who buried his second goal of the season just 19 seconds in.

Latta leads the Chargers with four assists.

Rylan Yaremko tied the game for NMU at the 8:08 mark, but UAH got the lead right back just 22 seconds later. Connor Wood was the recipient of a turnover and snapped the puck over goaltender John Hawthorne.

Right then UAH already had its first multi-goal game of the season.

But the Chargers coughed up the lead in the first 2:02 of the second period.

NMU tied the game 2-2 during an abbreviated power play as Griffin Loughran deflected a Philip Beaulieu blast up the middle 57 seconds in.

Then the Wildcats went up 3-2 as Andre Ghantous beat Mark Sinclair from the right circle.

NMU finished a three-goal second period with a Darien Craighead tally with 3:21 remaining.

Being down two to start the third was trouble enough, but UAH also had to kill a major power play after Dayne Finnson checked Drew Newhouse from behind as the second period expired.

The Chargers killed the penalty, with some help from NMU’s Michael Van Unen, who kneed Wood.

UAH then got to work on trimming its deficit. With 13:31 remaining, Daneel Lategan scored his first collegiate goal with a slapper from the right circle to cut NMU’s lead to 4-3.

The Chargers showed some fight in the third, outshooting the Wildcats 15-9 in the period. UAH popped some shots on Hawthorne (29 saves) during two third-period plays.

But UAH didn’t convert, and Philip Beaulieu sealed the NMU victory with :57 remaining with a empty-net goal from near his own goal line.

Sinclair finished with 27 saves.

A little closer this time, but the Chargers still have work to do to catch up with Minnesota State.

UAH found itself in a tie with the second-ranked Mavericks halfway in the third period. But two quick goals was the difference in MSU’s 4-1 win on Saturday.

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The Chargers (0-6 overall, 0-2 WCHA) kept it tight thanks again to Mark Sinclair, who made 34 saves in addition to the 45 he had in Friday’s 5-1 loss. It was the first series of back-to-back starts this season for Sinclair, who is working off a preseason knee injury.

“I think I played all right,” Sinclair said. “There’s a couple I’d like to have back for sure, but tonight was a little bit better of an effort overall. We may have had quite a few shots, but a lot of them were from the outside, so our defense did a really good job.

“You have to go with your top guy against the top team in the league,” UAH head coach Mike Corbett said. “And that’s what we’re building for. Mark’s the guy that we’ve got to be able to rely on in big games like this.”

The game was scoreless through the first period, and despite being outshot 14-5, it was the first shutout period UAH had posted all season.

The Mavericks (5-0-1, 2-0-0) also had plenty of chances in the second period as UAH gave them a handful of power plays. But it was on a 4-on-4 that Minnesota State drew first blood.

Charlie Gerard, who had two goals on Friday, snuck one past Sinclair on a back-hander with 2:43 left in the second.

UAH tied the game at 2:27 of the third. Adrian Danchenko retrieved his own dump in near the left corner of the MSU end, and sent it in front to Sean Rappleyea. Rappleyea’s shot from the high slot found its way past Jaxson Stauber for this first goal of the season and just the second of the senior’s UAH career.

“We don’t get a lot of shots, we’ve got to bury the ones we get, and he buried the one that he got,” Corbett said. “Raps and that line didn’t necessarily get a ton of ice time but they’re out there to give us energy and they gave us a great boost.”

The Chargers also got a boost from a Homecoming crowd of 3,084.

“I think the crowd’s at a new level this year,” Sinclair said. “I think we got a pretty good boost from it. It’s a lot of fun, and a lot of guys really enjoy it. They’re getting loud and it’s very encouraging for sure.”

Minnesota State regained the lead on a Reggie Lutz goal with 8:31 remaining in the third.

“The kid made a heck of a play popping the puck in the air on the second goal,” Corbett said. “But we’ve got to get the puck out. It’s those little lapses.

“We relax for a second, and they’re the type of team that preys on those mistakes.”

Nathan Smith followed up 42 seconds later picking up a loose puck in the slot and putting MSU up 3-1.

Parker Tuomie finished the game with an empty-net goal with 40.7 seconds left.

“Tonight’s kind of a tough one because we’re so close,” Sinclair said. “Close doesn’t really count right now, but I think we’re making good strides. Hopefully next weekend we can turn it around.”

“I thought our 60 minutes tonight was better than our 60 minutes last night,” Corbett said.

The Chargers head on the road to Northern Michigan next weekend.

“There’s no rest for us to be able to play another top team in our league,” Corbett said. “Our guys have to gain confidence. Little successes build into big successes.

“We don’t talk about moral victories and all that stuff, but these guys have to look at some of the things that are really good. We’re 1-1 with 10 minutes left in the game, and these are the games that we’ve got to learn how to win.”

UAH is now winless in the last 32 meetings with Minnesota State (0-28-4) dating back to 2002.