Box Score

Photo by Mark Kuhlman

OMAHA, Neb. - Matthew Caito's one-timer with 2:03 left in regulation snapped a 1-1 tie and provided the boost the Miami hockey team needed as it topped No. 7 Omaha 3-1 on the road Friday night.

That late Miami (8-11-3, 3-8-2-2 National Collegiate Hockey) push was good for its second-straight victory and first road win since a 1-0 win at St. Lawrence on Oct. 23.

The RedHawks' nation-leading penalty killing unit was tested just over two minutes in as they were whistled for holding. Miami yielded a single shot on goal, but nothing went in the net as they kept it scoreless before getting its first try with a man advantage at the 4:25 mark. MU's attempt had some life early as Alex Blankenburg was forced to make a strong save on a Justin Greenberg shot from up close, but ultimately the power play came and went with no change in the score.

After a few minutes of choppy five-on-five play, Miami was caught up ice and Omaha's (15-7-1, 5-7-1-0 NCHC) top line got a 3-on-1 rush where Jake Guentzel sent the puck across the crease to the NCHC's top goal scorer Austin Ortega. With Ortega on the doorstep, Jay Williams slid over from right to left and got a glove on his shot to keep it a scoreless game.

Miami's best chance of the period started on an Alex Gacek rush down the right wing, where his initial shot was turned away behind the net. Anthony Louis retrieved the puck and centered it to Josh Melnick in the slot, where his wrist shot was paddled away by Blankenburg with just over 12 minutes gone by. Play was generally pretty even as a whole in the first period with UNO holding a slim 8-7 lead in shots on goal, but both goalies were sharp and the game remained scoreless after 20 minutes.

Late penalties in the first carried over with a brief amount of 4-on-4 play that was followed by a 1:40 Miami power play at the beginning of the second. The latter half of the power play generated some chances, including a one-timer by Caito from atop the circle that Blankenburg kicked wide. A few minutes after the power play ended, Kevin Morris get fed by himself in front of the net and worked the puck across the crease, but Blankenburg stuck with him to block it away.

It appeared the RedHawks got on the board at the 5:23 mark when Conor Lemirande fed Caito with a diagonal pass at the point, where he wristed a shot through traffic that hit Blankenburg and the rebound landed in the crease behind him for Zach LaValle to slide into the net. However, the officials took another look at the play and ruled goaltender interference and waived the goal off, leaving it scoreless still.

Nevertheless, Miami was off to a strong start in the second period and held an 8-1 advantage in shots over the first six minutes of the frame. MU got a couple more glorious chances as Sean Kuraly drove the net on the ensuing shift of the disallowed goal and Blankenship held his ground. On his next shift, Kuraly fired a sharp angle shot off Blankenship's pad that went right to Scott Dornbrock for a rebound chance that glanced off Blankenship's pad again.

That persistence paid off at the 13:47 mark when Kiefer Sherwood picked up a loose puck at the half wall, skated it into the middle and blew a wrist shot past Blankenburg for his fourth goal of the season to make it 1-0. Miami got one more power play towards the tail end of the period, but nothing came of it and Sherwood's goal was the only shot to find the net after 40 minutes of play and a second period that saw MU outshoot UNO 15-6.

Omaha came out firing to start the third period, getting a couple good scoring chances that Williams turned aside by stopping Jake Randolph and Ryan Galt, but a penalty at the 3:20 mark gave UNO another power play. This one converted as after a strong first stop, the rebound came up top with a lot of space and eventually Austin Ortega one-timed a backdoor feed in to even the score 1-1 with less than four minutes gone by in the third.

The Mavericks held a 12-6 shot advantage over the first 14 minutes of the third. A good chance for the RedHawks was negated by a stop and then a minor penalty that put UNO on its third power play of the period with 5:23 left in regulation. Miami deftly got a big penalty kill and got a power play of its own with 3:23 remaining in regulation. The fifth time proved to be the charm as Kuraly and Louis dug the puck out along the boards below the goal line so Louis could bring the puck to the other corner, where he threaded a cross-ice pass to Caito for a one-timer with 2:03 left to put the Red and White back on top, 2-1.

UNO managed to get an offensive zone faceoff shortly after the strike and pulled Blankenburg for an extra skater. After withstanding the Mavericks' surge, Caito and Josh Melnick executed a picture-perfect breakout with the latter finding Kevin Morris streaking up the left wing with a clear path to the net. Morris nailed the empty net for his second goal of the season to put the game away with 27 seconds left.

Miami ended up outshooting Omaha 34-28 on the night and both power plays went 1-for-5 on the man advantage with Caito's game-winner breaking a 1-for-25 slump on the man advantage and starting his two-point night. Williams moved to 3-2-1 on the season and 3-0-1 in his last four starts by stopping 27 of 28 shots while Blankenburg turned away 31 of the 33 Miami attempts he saw.

The series wraps up on Saturday at 8:07 p.m. ET.