ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The Northern Michigan hockey team fell to Alaska-Anchorage, 5-3, Friday night at George M. Sullivan Arena.

With just 10.4 seconds left on the clock in the first period, James Vermeulen's first goal of the season gave the Wildcats a 1-0 advantage. Sami Salminen set up Vermeulen's strike by making a move to pull a Seawolf defenseman out of position. He then dished the puck back to Vermeulen for a one-timer, which sailed past Olivier Mantha blocker side.

Atte Tolvanen turned aside five shots during that frame, including two during the Seawolves' first power play. He also got some help from Gerard Hanson, who blocked a Chase Van Allen bid after he lost his stick in a scramble.

Vermeulen's goal capped a period of extended pressure by the Wildcats that began with less than five minutes remaining in the opening stanza. During that flurry, Robbie Payne and Dominik Shine had two of the better chances. With 3:45 on the clock, Payne came up with a turnover in the slot, made a move to draw Mantha out of the net and fired a shot just over the crossbar. Then, less than a minute later on Northern Michigan's second power play, Shine managed to work his way through traffic to fire an uncontested shot on Mantha, which he managed to deflect out of harm's way.

The Wildcats carried the momentum from Vermeulen's goal into the middle stanza, taking its first six shots. But the Seawolves regrouped and broke through with two goals in 23 seconds near the halfway mark of the frame.

At 12:31, Alaska-Anchorage capitalized on a Northern Michigan turnover to even the score. On the resulting 2-on-1, Nathan Renouf sent a drop pass to his twin, Jonah, who fired the puck into the left corner of the net just out of the reach of a lunging Tolvanen's stick. Right off the face-off, the Seawolves gained possession of the puck, and Jarrett Brown gave them the lead by using a screen to beat Tolvanen low stick side after kicking a Mason Mitchell feed to himself.

Mantha came up with two key saves on the Wildcats' last power play of the frame to keep Alaska-Anchorage ahead on the scoreboard going into the second intermission. First, he denied Payne's attempt to pot a Philip Beaulieu rebound from the slot. Then, he turned aside Hanson at the edge of the right circle.

Less than two minutes into the third period, the Seawolves extended their advantage to 3-1 when Matt Anholt tipped a Tad Kozun shot past Tolvanen. Collin Peters drew Northern Michigan back within a single strike at the 6:10 mark. After Luke Voltin fired a shot wide in transition, the puck bounced off of the back wall to Peters to tap into the empty net from the left edge of the slot.

Alaska-Anchorage then struck 12 seconds into its fifth power play of the game to take a 4-2 lead. At 10:37, Van Allen beat a heavily screened Tolvanen from the point. The Seawolves tacked on an empty-net goal with 1:07 remaining in regulation.

Casey Purpur completed the game's scoring with 49.1 seconds left to play, stuffing the puck past Mantha during a goalmouth scramble.

The Wildcats and Seawolves wrap up their series tomorrow at 11:07 p.m. (7:07 AT).

NOTES: Northern Michigan leads the all-time series, 17-12-1 ... The Seawolves snapped a four-game losing skid to the Wildcats with this victory ... Vermeulen's goal was the second of his collegiate career; his first came on Feb. 19, 2016 against Alabama-Huntsville ... Voltin's assist was the first of his collegiate career; he netted his first point on a goal at Ferris State on Oct. 21 ... Darien Craighead posted his first multi-assist effort, recording secondary helpers on Vermeulen and Peters's goals; it was his third career multi-point outing.