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COLUMBUS, Ohio – The 11th-ranked Miami hockey team used three power play goals to surge past No. 17 Ohio State 5-1 on Friday night.
Miami (2-1) spread its scoring around in its second-straight win. Sean Kuraly (1 goal, 2 assists) tied a career high with three points while Riley Barber (1 goal, 1 assist), Alex Wideman (1 goal, 1 assist) and Anthony Louis (2 assists) all notched multi-point nights.
The Red and White spent the first few shifts of the night cycling the puck in the Buckeyes’ end, but a Miami penalty at the 1:55 mark gave Ohio State the first power play of the evening. MU killed off the penalty with little trouble and went back to work in the offensive end shortly thereafter.
Adept cycling by Conor Lemirande forced the Buckeyes to commit a penalty of their own with 5:37 gone by. It took just 22 seconds for the RedHawks to take advantage as Barber sniped a shot from the left circle that beat OSU goalie Matt Tomkins stick side for his second goal of the season. Louis and Kuraly drew assists on the power play strike that put Miami on top 1-0.
More offensive zone time by the RedHawks forced another Buckeyes penalty 10:56 into the contest. The power play connected once again when Matthew Caito caught the OSU penalty kill on a change to hit Kuraly at the blue line. The junior set up at the top of the circle and wired a slapshot past Tomkins’ glove to make it a 2-0 game with 8:15 remaining. Louis also drew an assist on Kuraly’s third goal of the season.
Miami owned an 11-2 advantage in shots late in the period, but Ohio State got some offense going in the final few minutes. Jay Williams was equal to the task in goal, making 10 first period saves to allow the Red and White to skate to the dressing room with a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes of play.
The second period began with Miami killing off the final 1:15 of a carryover penalty. Ohio State fired the first four shots of the middle stanza. The RedHawks got a couple chances after the initial Buckeye surge a few minutes later, the best of which was a Blake Coleman shot off a negated icing that Tomkins stopped to keep it a two-shot game.
A sustained shift by the line of Coleman, Austin Czarnik and Alex Wideman created another power play at the 9:52 mark. Twelve seconds later, a check by Sam Jardine drew the attention of the officials for a five minute major and game misconduct to make it a 5-on-3 situation for the RedHawks. A penalty on Coleman off the ensuing draw opened the ice further with Miami on a 4-on-3 power play. With 9:05 left in the frame, Wideman finished a pretty passing display with a one-timer off a feed by Louie Belpedio and Justin Greenberg to make it 3-0. That power play goal was the only score of the period as Miami outshot Ohio State 10-9 in the middle frame to take a three-goal lead into the second intermission.
Ohio State’s Drew Brevig fired a point shot that got through traffic and in for a power play goal just 33 seconds into the third to cut Miami’s lead to 3-1. Thirty seconds later, OSU’s Justin DaSilva was called for a five-minute boarding penalty and a game misconduct, leaving the Buckeyes with just four defensemen for the rest of the contest. The RedHawks had some threats but did not score for the first 3:28 and a Miami penalty moved teams to four aside to end the man advantage. With teams skating at even strength, MU regained a three-goal lead when Barber fired a sharp wrister from the right wing that Tomkins stopped, but Ben Paulides skated into position to knock home the rebound for his second goal of the year to make it 4-1 with 14:42 remaining in regulation. Kuraly also picked up a secondary assist for his third point of the night.
The Red and White defense pretty well locked the Buckeyes down from there. Coleman capped the scoring with 1:29 left when he grabbed a loose puck behind the net and fired it off bodies in front and in to make it 5-1. Wideman picked up an assist for his second point of the night on the play.
The RedHawks ended up outshooting the Buckeyes 33-27 overall and finished the night 3-for-5 on the power play. Ohio State converted on one of its four attempts with the man advantage. Williams stopped 26 of 27 shots in his first start of the year to move to 2-0 on the young season.
Miami and Ohio State finish up this weekend’s series at Steve ‘Coach’ Cady Arena on Saturday. Puck drops at 7:05 p.m.
