BOWLING GREEN - Michigan coach Red Berenson said that Friday's 6-4 win over Bowling Green was decided by a few "great individual efforts" by his team. Dwight Helminen's shorthanded goal in the second period was the perfect example.

With the score tied at one and senior John Shouneyia serving the final seconds of a delay-of-game penalty, the sophomore center took a pass from Mark Mink and skated toward the Falcons' zone. But instead of dumping the puck, as many might have expected him to do on the penalty kill, Helminen used his breakaway speed to weave through three defenders. He then fired a wrist shot over the right shoulder of goalie Tyler Masters.

"The goalie played it perfect and Helminen still got it up in that top corner," Berenson said. "It was a perfect shot."

The goal gave the Wolverines a 2-1 lead early in the second and was the start of Michigan's four-goal secon period assault that put the game out of reach for the Falcons.

"At that point in the game it was 1-1, getting a break like that and burying the chance, it definitely boosted our production," said Helminen of his goal.

Even if the team is down a man, Helminen said that Berenson doesn't want him to hesitate to be aggressive if the chance presents itself.

"If we get the chance, he wants us to go," Helminen said. "A lot of times, particularly on the powerplay, they're sitting back, so we've got to take advantage of that."

The tally was the fourth in as many games for Helminen. He currently holds a career-high six-game point streak, notching nine points on four goals and five assists.

Helminen also tallied an assist on Eric Werner's even-strength goal just over four minutes later. The sophomore again brought the puck into the zone and drew the attention of Bowling Green's defense. This time, he whipped a pass across to Werner, who fired a one-timer into the top right corner of the net to make the score 3-1.

Under control: Most of Michigan's opponents this season have tried to slow the Wolverines down with physical play. Not many teams in the nation can match Michigan's speed, so they've tried to neutralize it with big hits and a slower tempo.

Bowling Green was no exception. The Falcons drew 10 penalties during Saturday's 1-1 tie for a total of 19 on the weekend. But the Wolverines were often frustrated by Bowling Green's whistles and drew a number of retaliatory penalties that negated any advantage.

"I think it was something we talked about before the game that was going to be really important, that was our discipline," Shouneyia said. "Pretty much around the team we were taking not such good penalties, myself included. I took three penalties that we could have done without. That's obviously something that if we want to be contenders later on, we're going to have to do without."