DURHAM, N.H. — The No. 3 Michigan hockey team’s power play unit hasn’t seen much ice time in comparison to the penalty kill this season, but when it’s been given the spotlight, the power play has been among the best in the nation.

When the Wolverines (2-0-0 CCHA, 2-0-2 overall) faced off against then-No. 9 New Hampshire on Saturday, it was three power play goals on just three opportunities that salvaged a 3-3 tie.

The trio of goals with the man advantage puts the season power play tally at 7-for-17 — a CCHA-leading 41-percent efficiency.

“You can’t get better than three-for-three on the power play,” senior forward Carl Hagelin, who was on the ice for every Michigan goal, said after the game. “That’s something we knew that we needed to play better. Our power play had played okay so far, but that’s where you win games — on the power play or on the penalty kill.”

The scoring started just over eight minutes into the first period, in the waning seconds of Michigan’s first power play, when junior forward Luke Glendening shoveled a pass from behind the net to senior forward Scooter Vaughan at the bottom of the right circle, who flicked a one-time wrist shot past Wildcat goaltender Matt DiGirolamo.

New Hampshire scored early in the second period, but Michigan cashed in on its next power play six minutes later, when sophomore forward Chris Brown set up in front of the net and powered a wrist shot between DiGirolamo’s pads to give the Wolverines a 2-1 lead.

After going the first 25 minutes without receiving a penalty, Michigan players started a parade to the penalty box, sending four men in a span of six minutes — creating two separate five-on-three opportunities for New Hampshire (1-1-1).

The Wildcats came on strong, peppering Hunwick with shot after shot, but he stood up tall against the onslaught, maintaining the Wolverines’ one-goal lead heading into the second intermission and finishing with 45 saves.

The teams traded goals early in the third period, with Michigan’s tally coming from junior defenseman Brandon Burlon on the third power play chance of the evening.

But at 15:07 in the third stanza, with the sides already skating four-on-four, senior defenseman Chad Langlais picked up a holding penalty, giving the Wildcats a golden opportunity to tie the game again.

“Four-on-three (power plays) are huge, just about better than a five-on-three — it just works that way,” Berenson said. “That was a huge penalty to call. When you’re four-on-four, you just about don’t want to touch anybody, because you know they’re going to call something, and that could really change the game. And it did.”

Just 20 seconds into the Wildcat man advantage, forward Paul Thompson drilled a shot from the slot that beat Hunwick to tie the game at three — the fourth power play goal of the game.

New Hampshire carried its momentum into the five-minute overtime period, but Hunwick stymied a final Wildcat attack by stonewalling Thompson on a breakaway attempt.

Hagelin, who had two assists on the night, attributed the success of both power plays to their patience, but he also mentioned that the larger, Olympic-sized rink in New Hampshire helped to spread out the penalty killing unit.

“You get a lot more time with the puck, and if you are able to beat your guy to the net, you have a lot of time in front,” Hagelin said. “I felt like both teams were patient with the puck on the power play, and on the penalty kill they weren’t patient enough and were running around, so it was easy to create chances.”