OXFORD, Ohio – Derek Daschke snapped a 1-1 tie with 3:58 to go and
Ryan Larkin made 35 saves to backstop the Miami hockey team to a 3-1 victory over No. 6 Minnesota Duluth on Friday night.
The victory is the RedHawks' (3-5-2, 1-2-0-0 National Collegiate Hockey) conference victory of the year as they topped the two-time defending national champion Bulldogs (4-4-1, 1-1-1-0 NCHC) for just the second time in their last 19 meetings dating back to the 2015-16 season.
The first five minutes sped by with only one whistle. UMD had an early 3-1 shot advantage. The Bulldogs would eventually race out to a 7-2 lead in shots, though the game remained scoreless.
Miami got the evening's first power play try with just over four minutes left in the opening frame and some strong puck movement set up
Karch Bachman in the left circle with a lot of net to look at. Hunter Shepard, however, slid across the crease and got his stick on the bid to keep it out. Final shots of the frame were 7-5 Bulldogs and the teams remained locked in a 0-0 game at intermission.
After some nondescript play for the first few minutes of the second, MU got another chance to go on the power play at the 7:01 mark. The Red and White were unable to crack the scoreboard, though had some late looks on the man advantage.
With 8:09 left in the frame, the Bulldogs went on their first power play of the evening and generated some high quality looks that Larkin managed to turn aside to leave it scoreless. As the penalty wore on, a broken UMD stick allowed MU to go on a transition attack and
Karch Bachman turned on the jets, worked into the middle and slid a low shot inside the right post for his fifth goal of the season.
Gordie Green earned an assist on the play as he fed the speedy winger for the tally.
The Bulldogs started to pour on some pressure after the RedHawks' successful penalty kill and went on another power play late in the frame, but Larkin bumped his two-period save total to 26 to leave the Red & White on top after 40 minutes.
MU nearly killed the carryover power play, but a failed clear allowed Scott Perunovich to feed the puck from the point to Tanner Laderoute for a deflection from the slot that evened it up with three seconds remaining on the power play, leaving the score tied at 1-1 with 19:17 to go in regulation.
After getting outshot 19-5 in the second period, Miami was able to generate a bit more attack in spurts of the third.
Chase Pletzke and Green both got transition looks that were shrugged off by Shepard.
With 6:35 remaining in regulation, the RedHawks got an opportunity to go on their third power play, but were unable to get one by Shepard as the game remained tied down the stretch.
Miami's dogged forecheck finally paid off with 3:58 to go. After
Phil Knies stripped a defender of the puck behind the UMD net, he brought it out front to
Monte Graham for a shot that hit a slew of bodies and popped up in the air. Everyone on the ice lost site of the puck except for Daschke and the sophomore blew liner slid a backhand shot inside the post for his third goal of the year to give the RedHawks a 2-1 lead.
The Bulldogs kept up the pressure trailing once again and went on a power play with 2:37 showing on the clock. That man advantage was met with tenacious pressure by the RedHawk penalty kill and eventually they drew a penalty with 1:05 showing on the clock.
UMD managed to pull Shepard for an extra skater, but its attempt to set up in the offensive zone was stymied by the MU defense. With a loose puck behind the goal line,
Andrew Sinard wired the puck around the wall right as Graham returned from the penalty box behind everyone. The sophomore forward skated in all alone for an empty net goal to put the game away with 28.6 seconds remaining.
Minnesota Duluth outshot Miami 36-17, though most of that spread was a 19-5 margin in the second period of play. The RedHawks finished 1-for-4 on the power play while the Bulldogs were 1-for-3 a man up. Larkin finished with a season-high 35 saves to pick up the victory while Graham notched a goal and an assist in the third period for his second-straight multi-point game.
These teams wrap up their weekend series on Saturday night with opening faceoff at 7:05 p.m.
