“We kept grinding the puck all night and it paid off,” said Warriors head coach Bill Wilkinson.“ We kind of sat back and waited for them to make the mistakes. That’s what you have to do when you’re not overly talented.”

The sit-back-and-wait style was definitely effective as it prevented Bentley from getting much movement in the neutral zone. In turn, Wayne State controlled most of the play, outshooting the Falcons, 41-21, on the night.

“We kept telling the players that the middle of the ice was clogged up,” said Bentley head coach Jim McAdam.“ We told them to reverse the puck, but every time they’d go up the strong side.”

Durbin, who was the first recruit for Wilkinson’s first-year program, leads the Warriors in scoring with 11 points (two goals, nine assists) and has fared well against MAAC opponents. Earlier in the season he record four assists against Mercyhurst.

“Jason’s a good, solid type of player,” said Wilkinson.“ I told him when he came he was going to be my captain and wear number 19 because he’s a right-handed center.

"There’s only one other guy in Detroit who wears number 19," quipped Wilkinson, referring to Detroit Red Wings center Steve Yzerman, "and I couldn’t get him.”

The loss for the Falcons came despite a heroic effort from goaltender Ray DeVincent, in only his third start of the season, and his first action since relieving Joe Cullen on November 12 at Connecticut.

“ DeVincent played well tonight; that was our only bright light,” said McAdam.

Wayne State opened the scoring on the power play at 8:54. With Bentley’s Marcus Willy in the box for hooking, Durbin deflected Keith Stanich’s shot from the right point past DeVincent for the 1-0 lead.

In the second period, Bentley came out of the chute firing, and just 49 seconds into the frame, Mike Spengler evened the game scoring his third goal of the game. After picking up the puck to the right of goaltender David Guerrera, Spengler walked out to the slot untouched, roofing the puck over the goalie for his ninth goal of the season.

At the nine-minute mark of the second, Wayne State regained the lead when rookie defenseman Tyler Kindle tucked home the rebound of a John Brink shot. The Warriors came into the zone two-on-one, and the rebound of Brink’s slapshot bounced right onto the stick of Kindle for the open-net goal.

At 5:09 of the second period, with Bentley again a man down, Wayne State extended the lead. David Peca, younger brother of Buffalo Sabres’ star Michael Peca, knocked home the rebound of Stanich’s shot from the right point to give the Warriors a 3-1 lead.

Saturday night’s rematch, also to be played at Conte, will see two different goaltenders in net. Wayne State will start Marc Carlson, originally from Hingham, Mass., playing in front of his hometown crowd. Bentley will play Dan Notartomaso, his first start of the season.

The win improves Wayne State’s record to 5-9-1 while Bentley drops to 4-8-0.