ST. CLOUD - The plan seemed simple enough. Gophers hockey players Casey Mittelstadt and Ryan Lindgren would return from the World Junior Championship in Buffalo, N.Y., to the Twin Cities around noon Saturday, plenty of time to arrive in St. Cloud for the 6:30 p.m. game against top-ranked St. Cloud State.

Mittelstadt and Lindgren made it.

Their equipment didn’t, because of courier issues, according to a team spokesman.

So, neither played in the 10th-ranked Gophers’ 5-2 loss to the Huskies at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center. The defeat was the fifth consecutive against St. Cloud State (13-2-3) for the Gophers (12-10-1), who’ll try to end the skid in the series finale on Sunday night at 3M Arena at Mariucci.

Even if the Gophers had everyone available, it might not have changed the outcome. Mikey Eyssimont scored two goals and added an assist as St. Cloud State improved to 10-0-1 at home this season.

The absence of Mittelstadt, the team’s third-leading scorer, and Lindgren, a top-pair defenseman, was compounded by the fact that junior forward Tommy Novak, Minnesota’s second-leading scorer, missed the game because of an undisclosed upper-body injury. Gophers coach Don Lucia juggled three of his four lines and two of three defense pairings, with sophomore forward Luke Notermann and freshman defenseman Sam Rossini joining the lineup.

St. Cloud State was without forward Ryan Poehling, who also played for Team USA, but the Huskies showed in front of a crowd of 5,714 why they’re ranked No. 1. That was especially evident in a dominant second period, when they scored twice early for a 3-1 lead and outshot the Gophers 15-5.

The Gophers struck first when Mike Szmatula scored on a two-on-one rush with Brent Gates Jr. 2:34 into the first period. The goal came after a Huskies turnover in the neutral zone, with Gates passing to Szmatula, who kept the puck and fired it past goalie Jeff Smith.

St. Cloud State entered Saturday with a four-game win streak against the Gophers, and the Huskies’ power play played a big role. St. Cloud State was 10-for-20 on the power play during that streak, and both game-winners in last year’s sweep came with the man advantage. When Gophers center Darian Romanko took a boarding penalty in the first period, the Huskies made Minnesota pay. Robby Jackson scored on the power play at 8:49 for a 1-1 tie, with Eyssimont and Jimmy Schuldt assisting.

The Gophers got their first power play with 3:39 left in the first period but could not score. That extended their power-play skid to 0-for-22, dating to the Dec. 2 game against Wisconsin. The skid eventually reached 0-for-25.

Gophers goalie Eric Schierhorn was tested in the first, but he made 10 saves in the period and got help from timely clears of rebounds.

St. Cloud State took a 2-1 lead 50 seconds into the second period when Eyssimont made a slick move to evade the Gophers defense and tucked the puck past Schierhorn.

The Huskies took command in the second, and Easton Brodzinski made it 3-1 5:36 into the period. The freshman from Blaine was behind the Gophers net and banked the puck in off Schierhorn’s back. Minnesota didn’t have its first shot on goal in the second until 9:37 had expired.

Eyssimont extended the Huskies’ lead to 4-1 by scoring on a three-on-one rush 1:27 into the third period. Gates cut it to 4-2 with 12:54 left in the period on a deflection of Steve Johnson’s shot. Jack Ahcan’s goal with 7:01 left boosted the Huskies’ lead to 5-2.