OXFORD, Ohio – A stellar performance by
Ryan Larkin and
Casey Gilling's three-point night lifted the 19th-ranked Miami hockey team to a 3-2 victory over No. 11 North Dakota on Friday night.
The victory snaps the RedHawks' (8-4, 2-2 National Collegiate Hockey) small two-game losing streak and ends the Fighting Hawks' (5-3-1, 1-1 NCHC) winning streak at five.
After watching North Dakota establish a dominant possession game from the opening faceoff last night, Miami came out with energy in the early going Saturday night. Larkin was tested early and came up big on a chance by Rhett Gardner four minutes in that left it scoreless.
The RedHawks drew a penalty with 8:32 gone by, though that power play did not connect. However, a second attempt cashed in as
Josh Melnick blasted home a rebound from Gilling's shot to put the Red & White on top 1-0 after 20 minutes.
Alec Mahalak also drew an assist on the power play tally.
UND nearly tied things up a few minutes into the second period when a Casey Johnson got fed for a shot on the doorstep, but Larkin came up with the stop and officials took another look and upheld the no goal call on the ice. North Dakota went on the lone power play of the second period with 12:47 left on the clock. The Fighting Hawks peppered Larkin with four shots, but he turned all of them aside. Shortly after the penalty, a turnover in the neutral zone sprung a 2-on-1 UND rush, but
River Rymsha deftly knocked the puck away from the on rushing forward to keep the lead intact.
Miami started to pour on some pressure as the period wore on as Rymsha had a look in close and
Scott Corbett pounced on a rebound, but the shot squirted wide of the cage. The following shift saw a handful of shots come Adam Scheel's way, but he was up to the task as the score remained 1-0 at the break.
North Dakota came out of the dressing room firing, recording the first seven shots on goal. While Larkin made some strong stops early, Jordan Kawaguchi converted a 2-on-1 feed and picked the corner to even things up at 1-1 with 16:22 left.
A UND penalty allowed MU a chance on the man advantage with 4:28 gone off the clock, but it could not get a clean set up in the zone and eventually a penalty put the Fighting Hawks on the attack. Larkin made a pair of saves while the RedHawk penalty killers blocked two more attempts to keep the game tied.
Near the midway point of the period, Miami's cycling game paid off as
Zach LaValle dug the puck out of a scrum in the half wall and fed
Derek Daschke for a point shot that Gilling redirected home for his first goal of the season.
Once again looking for an equalizer, North Dakota tried applying pressure, but Larkin made a couple more stops to leave Miami ahead entering the waning minutes.
With under four minutes left and a defensive zone faceoff looming, Gilling won the puck ahead to spring
Karch Bachman down the left wing. The junior forward blazed up the ice and beat Scheel from in close to pad the lead to 3-1 with 3:40 to play.
Trailing by two, the Fighting Hawks pulled Scheel nearly immediately for an extra skater. UND held play in the zone for long stretches and finally cashed in on a rebound off a blocked shot when Kawaguchi buried his second of the night with 22.8 ticks left. North Dakota got one more rush up ice after cutting it to 3-2, but Larkin steered aside one more shot to keep Miami in front at the horn.
North Dakota outshot Miami 38-23 on the night, but MU went 1-for-3 on the power play while UND finished 0-for-2 with the man advantage. Gilling (1g, 2a) had a hand in all of Miami's tallies and Larkin stopped 36 shots to pick up the victory.
Miami's next four contests are on the road, starting with a conference series at Colorado College next Friday night. Opening faceoff is at 10 p.m. ET.
