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ST. CLOUD, Minn. – A strong first period and an early second-period goal had the No. 5/6 Miami hockey team off and running, but St. Cloud State scored three-unanswered goals to pull off a 3-1 win on Friday night.
The Huskies (8-10-1, 3-5-1-0 National Collegiate Hockey) snapped the RedHawks’ (14-8, 7-4 NCHC) three-game winning streak and knocked them out of first-place in the league standings with tonight’s result.
“St. Cloud deserved to win tonight,” Miami head coach Enrico Blasi said. “They outplayed us in every aspect of the game.”
The RedHawks came out firing at the beginning of their first shift with a Riley Barber one-timer being smothered by Charlie Lindgren less than a minute in. The Red and White enjoyed a 5-2 edge in shots on goal over the first few minutes of play. Miami got the first power play of the evening at the 6:06 mark, but it struggled getting set up in the offensive zone and did not register a single shot on goal during a scoreless two minutes.
Miami continued peppering Lindgren as the period wore on, ending the opening frame with 17 shots. Barber had perhaps the best opportunity of the period when he came off the bench shortly after MU’s fore checking forced a turnover. The puck found his stick on the inside of the left circle for a one-timer that Lindgren slid right to turn aside. Barber had another good chance late in the period when he brought the puck up the right wing and carried it into the crease for a point-blank chance that Lindgren turned aside. Despite a 17-8 edge in shots for Miami, the game remained scoreless after 20 minutes of play.
MU picked up right where it left off early in the second period as the line of Barber, Austin Czarnik and Conor Lemirande got the puck near the crease for a few close range shots that Lindgren got in front of to keep it scoreless. The Huskies had a rush of their own after the ensuing faceoff, but Ryan McKay stood tall during a couple shots.
Sean Kuraly finally put Miami on the board at the 5:06 mark of the second when he gathered the puck at the point and flung a shot that redirected through traffic for his 11th goal of the season to make it 1-0. Matthew Caito and Alex Wideman drew assists on the tally.
St. Cloud State got its first power play of the night with 6:40 gone by in the period and created several dangerous opportunities. McKay was a difference maker during the penalty kill, making five saves to keep SCSU off the board during that stretch. Despite not scoring, that man advantage appeared to energize the Huskies as they began pressuring the RedHawks’ defense.
A Miami penalty with 7:48 remaining in the second put St. Cloud State back on the power play and the RedHawks got caught with too many men on the ice 1:15 into the penalty to give the Huskies a two-man advantage. SCSU finally converted as David Morley converted a back door feed with 6:03 remaining in the period to even the score at 1-1. MU managed to kill off the next penalty. Miami was able to go on the offensive over the last few minutes of the period, but the score remained tied at 1-1 after two periods.
The Huskies took their first lead of the night 4:09 into the third after Jonny Brodzinski won an offensive zone faceoff cleanly to Andrew Prochno, whose point shot was stopped by McKay through traffic, but the rebound went to Joe Rehkamp, who finished from there to make it a 2-1 contest. The RedHawks had a chance to respond midway through the period when the puck found Kevin Morris with an opening in the slot, but his shot just went wide.
That opportunity was the last clean chance Miami would get the rest of the way as St. Cloud State clogged up the neutral zone and prevented MU from getting much speed on the rush or clean entry into the offensive zone. Morley put the game away with 1:37 left when he drove the net from the goal line for his second of the night.
Miami outshot St. Cloud State 38-37 overall, but were outgunned 29-20 in the final 40 minutes. The Huskies converted on 1-of-3 power plays while killing off the RedHawks’ lone chance with the man advantage. McKay stopped 34 of 37 shots in goal for the Red and White while Lindgren turned aside 37 of 38 MU attempts.
The RedHawks and Huskies close out their weekend series on Saturday night. Puck drops at 8:07 p.m.
