BOWLING GREEN, Ohio — Atte Tolvanen made a season-best 40 saves to lead the Northern Michigan hockey team to its third-straight shutout victory and a road sweep of Bowling Green Saturday night at BGSU Ice Arena.

After Brock Maschmeyer broke a scoreless tie near the middle of the second period, Tolvanen made 20 of his saves to prevent the Falcons from notching the equalizer. Dominik Shine tacked on an empty-net goal with a fraction of a second remaining in regulation to make the final score 2-0.

Tolvanen finished the weekend with 75 saves and the school record for consecutive scoreless minutes. His shutout streak, which dates back to the second period of Jan. 20's game against Alaska-Anchorage, now stands at 215:42 minutes.

During the scoreless first period, Bowling Green outshot Northern Michigan, 11-5. The Wildcats' best scoring opportunity came around the six-minute mark when a Falcon shattered his hockey stick while taking a point shot, springing Robbie Payne and Zach Diamantoni on a 2-on-1 rush. Payne raced into the offensive zone, drawing the defenseman with him. He then fed a wide-open Diamantoni, who was stuffed by Chris Nell.

With less than 15 seconds remaining on the clock, Tolvanen came up with his biggest save of the opening stanza. After Kevin Dufour blocked a point shot, he beat a Wildcat to the loose puck in the neutral zone and charged in alone on Tolvanen. Tolvanen calmly directed his shot out of danger to keep Bowling Green off of the board.

In the second period, the Falcons continued to pepper Tolvanen with shots, adding 16 to their total. Just three minutes in, Mitch McLain used his speed to generate a 2-on-1 rush, but Tolvanen denied the WCHA's leading goal scorer with a glove save.

Both teams had a quality scoring opportunity during Northern Michigan's first power play of the middle stanza. First, Payne deflected a Gerard Hanson shot off the crossbar and out. Then, Lukas Craggs forced a turnover and got around his defender to get an uncontested look on net. Tolvanen read his move and made the pad save.

Maschmeyer crashed the net to get the Wildcats on the board at the 11:18 mark. After Troy Loggins dropped a pass back to Philip Beaulieu, Beaulieu hung onto the puck and then threaded it through traffic for Maschmeyer to deflect past Nell from the left edge of the crease.

In the opening minutes of the final frame, the Falcons tested Tolvanen, forcing him to make kick saves on McLain and John Schilling to maintain the Wildcats' advantage.

With 10:15 on the clock during a Bowling Green power play, Tolvanen went post to post to stone Brett D'Andrea. Good puck movement by the Falcons set up D'Andrea up for a bid from the edge of the right circle, and Tolvanen lunged across the crease to glove D'Andrea's bullet.

D'Andrea's chance was the closest the Falcons would come to solving Tolvanen, who now has made 120-straight saves dating back to Jan. 20's game. Bowling Green pulled Nell for the extra skater with just under two minutes remaining in regulation, but a too many men on the ice penalty gave Northern Michigan a power play to close out the game.

Shine ultimately capped the scoring with a fraction of a second left on the clock, picking off a pass in the neutral zone and firing the puck into the empty net.

The Wildcats are 5-0-2 in their past seven games and winners of four in a row. They return to the Berry Events Center next weekend to square off against Alaska-Fairbanks as they look to continue to rise up the WCHA standings.

NOTES: Bowling Green leads the all-time series, 48-43-9 ... This is the first time in program history that Northern Michigan has blanked three-straight opponents ... Tolvanen became the all-time leader in consecutive scoreless minutes during the first period; he passed Duane Hoey (160:50, 2/12-10/13/99) at the 5:02 mark of the frame ... This was Tolvanen's seventh 40-save effort of his collegiate career ... The Wildcats last scored a sweep through back-to-back shutouts during the 2013-14 season; they blanked Alabama-Huntsville by 3-0 and 4-0 margins at the Berry Events Center on Nov. 22-23 ... Northern Michigan's last road sweep took place in 2015; the Wildcats toppled Bowling Green in overtime, 3-2, on Feb. 20 and sealed the sweep with a 4-3 comeback win the next night ... Shine's goal was his 16th of the season, setting a new career high and tying him with McLain for the WCHA lead ... Maschmeyer now leads the Wildcats with two game-winning goals.