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DULUTH, Minn. - Twice on Thursday night the Miami hockey team erased deficits against No. 2 Minnesota Duluth, but a late Bulldog power play goal sent the RedHawks to a 4-3 defeat.

Avery Peterson's power play tally with 1:21 left snapped a 3-3 tie as Miami (9-16-6, 5-12-4-2 National Collegiate Hockey) dropped its fifth-straight decision, though four of those saw it tied in the third period.

Miami created the best opportunity of the early going when Anthony Louis spun away from a check beneath the goal line and brought the puck out front for a close range backhand, but Hunter Miska got a pad on the attempt to keep it scoreless in the opening minutes. Over the first seven minutes, MU fired six of the first nine shots on goal, establishing a few full shifts in the UMD (20-5-6, 14-4-3-3 NCHC) zone with the puck. None of those yielded anything on the scoreboard and later on it was the Bulldogs pinning the RedHawks in their zone for a long shift, but Ryan Larkin made some strong saves to leave it scoreless midway through the frame.

With 6:55 left in the frame, a point shot directed intentionally wide caromed to Adam Johnson beneath the goal line, who quickly banked on in off Larkin to put UMD on top 1-0. The Bulldogs would take a penalty with 2:25 left in the first, but that was cut short by a penalty with 1:18 remaining in the frame as UMD fired the final six shots on goal of the period to take the 1-0 lead into intermission.

While the Red & White killed off the 47 seconds left on the carryover Bulldog power play, an outlet pass did not get past their blue line and it set up Dominic Toninato for a back door goal on a 2-on-1, despite Larkin's strong effort to slide over and get a piece of the shot. That tally created a long stretch of pressure by UMD as MU was hemmed in its own end for almost two consecutive minutes without a whistle, but it escaped that unscathed.

After withstanding the Bulldogs' pressure, the RedHawks were able to collect themselves and counterattack. Grant Hutton drove the net from the left corner and the puck squirted into the middle where Jared Brandt wristed home his second goal in three games with 7:07 gone by, cutting the gap to 2-1. Josh Melnick also picked up an assist on the tally.

That goal energized the Red & White and a pair of Bulldog penalties opened the ice up for a RedHawk 5-on-3 with 8:48 to go in the middle stanza. That paid off quickly as an offensive zone faceoff win got the puck to the point, where Kiefer Sherwood fed one to Hutton's wheelhouse for a heavy one-timer that zoomed past Miska to tie it at 2-2 with 8:15 to go until the break.

Miami continued to pepper Miska throughout a busy second period that saw it launch 18 shots on goal. Josh Melnick nearly put MU on top, but his sharp angle shot at the end of the second penalty following Hutton's goal rang off the post and a late MU power play generated several quality chances, but no goals as the teams were still square at 2-2 following 40 minutes of play.

An early penalty on Miami gave Minnesota Duluth just its second power play of the game to that point. That advantage was enough to put it back in front as a Neal Pionk one-timer from atop the left circle made it a 3-2 game with 18:24 left in regulation.

Undeterred by the deficit, MU took advantage of a fortuitous bounce off the back wall that saw the puck center to Carson Meyer, where he roofed a shot that went in and immediately back out to tie the score at 3-3 with 10:45 left. A RedHawk penalty with 8:16 to go gave the Bulldogs a chance to go on the offensive, but that power play was negated by a UMD slash that turned the tide back in MU's favor. That man advantage played through Sherwood, who blasted a couple heavy one-timers through traffic. The first was stopped by Miska, but the second got by the freshman goaltender only to ring off the crossbar as UMD survived that onslaught.

With 2:19 left, extended Minnesota Duluth pressure caused Miami to take a penalty. Just like at the start of the period, UMD's power play put it back in front as Peterson found the puck in transition and scored with 1:21 remaining to make it 4-3. The Red & White pulled Larkin for an extra skater and had one final scramble in front of the Bulldog net, but Toninato slid into the crease to keep the puck out and hold off the RedHawks' comeback bid.

The RedHawks finished up with a slight (31-30) edge in shots on goal while going 1-for-6 on the power play. UMD's power play struck for two goals in the third period to finish 2-for-4. Hutton (1g, 1a), Melnick (2a) and Louis (2a) both recorded multi-point games for Miami while Larkin stopped 26 shots while Miska made 28 saves at the other end.

These teams wrap up their series on Friday night with the puck dropping at 8:07 p.m.