St. Cloud, Minn. — Jack Beck’s deflection early in the third period stood up as the winner, and Arizona State (5-2-0) opened NCHC play with a 3-2 win over St. Cloud State (2-4-0) on Friday night at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center.

The series closes Saturday at 4 p.m. Phoenix time in St. Cloud, streaming on NCHC.tv and on the radio on FOX Sports 910 AM.

The power play carried Arizona State through a wild first period — both Sun Devil goals in the period came with the man advantage, and it bailed them out of everything else that happened in those 20 minutes. The Sun Devils came into the night 4-0-0 this season when scoring a power-play goal; they left it 5-0-0.

Arizona State struck first on the power play, when captain Kyle Smolen opened the scoring early in the first period. The goal carried two milestones with it: Smolen became the fourth player in program history with 30 or more career goals, and the goal was his 70th career point, making him the 10th player in Sun Devil history to reach that mark.

Arizona State’s penalty kill is the backbone of this team, and it showed again Friday. The Sun Devils came into the night fifth in the nation on the kill at 95.2 percent, with one power-play goal allowed through six games — and they needed every bit of it in a first period that turned rough. Jacob Napier threw a left hook at Nordberg that the officials let go, both benches were warned, and a hit on the St. Cloud captain lit the Huskies up: Gavyn Thoreson tied the game, and Noah Urness put St. Cloud State ahead 2-1. Down a goal, Arizona State killed the tripping call on Baran — Smolen took a shot block on the kill and skated off slowly — and the kill held the game at 2-1 until the power play could answer. It held the rest of the night, too: one power-play goal allowed, now through seven games.

The tying goal came with 1:12 left in the period, on the power play. The puck moved across the top of the zone to Ben Muthersbaugh — an alternate captain in his first season in Tempe after transferring from Union — and where the coverage expected him to shoot near side, he went far side instead, past the shoulder St. Cloud goaltender Yan Shostak had vacated. It was Muthersbaugh’s fourth goal of the year, and the second time in three games Arizona State has scored two power-play goals in the first period.

The second period belonged to the goaltenders. Sophomore Samuel Urban held the line for Arizona State, and Shostak matched him at the other end, and the period ended the way it started. Urban finished with 28 saves on 30 shots; Shostak faced the heavier night and made 31 saves on 34 shots in the loss.

The winner came 3:45 into the third. A shot from the point found Beck, another of Arizona State’s alternate captains, in front, and his deflection beat Shostak for a 3-2 lead the Sun Devils protected the rest of the way. The win was Arizona State’s fourth in a row — the Holy Cross finale, both games of the sweep at UMass Lowell, and now the conference opener, on the road, against a team and a crowd that spent the night trying to drag them into something else.

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