OXFORD, Ohio – A four-point night by
Gordie Green and a furious late comeback bid by the Miami hockey team wasn't enough to overcome a three-goal deficit in a 7-4 loss to No. 17 Bowling Green.
MU scored first, but four unanswered goals by BGSU sent it to a deficit it couldn't climb out of.
The Falcons came out gunning in their first few shifts, taking four shots a few minutes in. Things stabilized a bit afterwards with MU getting a couple bids at the net as the contest remained scoreless at the first media timeout with the clock showing 13:44.
Miami got the first power play of the day with 11:38 left in the first and got one in close chance for
Gordie Green that just missed the net. The man advantage was short lived as MU took a minor of its own about a minute into it to leave it 4-on-4. The RedHawks ended up killing off the ensuing Falcons' power play and a full power play later in the frame. The game remained 0-0 at intermission with MU having a power play carry over into the second.
While MU's carry over power play did not convert to start the second, it didn't take long for it to find the scoresheet.
Gordie Green got fed with a head of steam in the neutral zone down the right wing and weaved through the BGSU defense and beat Eric Dop five-hole to put the Red & White on top 1-0 just 50 seconds into the middle frame.
Casey Gilling and
Derek Daschke earned assists for springing the RedHawks' captain on the tally.
The RedHawks fended off three Falcons power plays in the first 10 minutes of the middle stanza and had a man advantage of their own that didn't connect. An extended BGSU cycle eventually tied things up as Cameron Wright redirected home a feed from Will Cullen with 7:05 left in the second. Wright later gave the Falcons a 2-1 lead when he scored from a sharp angle on the power play with 4:22 remaining in the frame as BGSU skated to the dressing room up 2-1 after 40 minutes.
Connor Ford struck on a breakaway to make it a 3-1 game two minutes into the third before an Evan Dougherty tally with 14:17 showing on the clock dug the RedHawks into a 4-1 deficit.
A power play chance with 13:24 to go allowed the RedHawks to climb back into it as
Karch Bachman finished off a feed down low from Green to cut the gap to 4-2.
Bray Crowder also picked up an assist on the tally.
That momentum was short lived, however, as BGSU followed up with a power play tally of its own when Wright completed the hat trick by blasting a one-timer from the high slot to up the lead to 5-2 with 11:16 remaining.
The RedHawks rallied once again down the stretch. After some sustained pressure in the offensive zone, Gilling corralled the puck at the half wall and moved into the middle to fling the puck towards the net. Green redirected it in for his second of the evening to make it 5-3.
Jack Clement picked up his first collegiate point with a secondary assist with 3:56 left. With time winding down, MU pulled
Ryan Larkin for an extra skater and it paid off as Bachman blasted home his second of the day on assists from Green and Crowder to make the score 5-4 with 2:24 left.
That would be as close as MU would get, however as Wright scored on a back door feed in transition with 1:38 left and an Alec Rauhauser empty netter capped the scoring with 10 seconds showing on the clock.
Bowling Green outshot Miami 42-19 on the night and went 2-for-7 on the power play compared to Miami's 1-for-5 clip. Larkin finished with 35 stops in net for MU. Green's four points led the RedHawks' offense while Bachman (2 goals), Crowder (2 assists) and Gilling (2 assists) all posted multi-point games.
Miami continues its season-opening five-game home stand on Friday when it starts a weekend series with New Hampshire. Opening faceoff is at 7:05 p.m.
