OXFORD, Ohio – A pair of power play goals by No. 6 Minnesota Duluth dug the Miami hockey team into a hole it couldn't quite overcome in a 3-2 loss on Saturday night.
The RedHawks' (3-6-2, 1-3-0-0 National Collegiate Hockey) settled for the split of their weekend series with the result.
It took nearly four minutes for the first shot to get through and in this case UMD (5-4-1, 2-1-1-0 NCHC) capitalized as Nick Swaney redirected a point shot by Nick Wolff to put the Bulldogs on top 1-0.
Shots were 5-4 Miami entering the latter stages of the frame, but two MU minor penalties 35 seconds apart gave UMD an extended opportunity with a 5-on-3 power play. The Bulldogs peppered
Ryan Larkin with shots, including a sequence with several pucks reaching him from the middle of the slot, but the senior netminder steered aside all seven UMD shots to help the Red & White kill both penalties.
It appeared the game would remain a 1-0 Minnesota Duluth lead at intermission, but a penalty with 32.1 seconds left gave Miami some life with a power play of its own. After working the puck around the point,
Derek Daschke whipped a pass below the left circle to
Gordie Green, who immediately found
Chase Pletzke for a backdoor goal that beat the horn.
The Bulldogs fired the first eight shots on goal of the second period and their pressure drew a penalty at the 4:46 mark. That man advantage capitalized as Tanner Laderoute fired in a rebound off a Cole Koepke shot that gave UMD a 2-1 advantage with 14:22 on the clock in the middle stanza.
Another Minnesota Duluth power play yielded another goal as Noah Cates scored on a wraparound to make it a 3-1 contest with 12:45 left in the second.
Miami was outshot 19-7 in the middle stanza, but finally got a chance to go to work offensively after a cycle drew a penalty on Minnesota Duluth. The RedHawks got a fortuitous bounce on a point shot by
Rourke Russell, which hit a Bulldog body and went in to pull them within 3-2 with 4:26 to go in the second.
Bray Crowder and
John Sladic each picked up helpers on the play.
The Red and White killed off a later Bulldog power play thanks to some strong stops by Larkin again and they entered the dressing room down a goal with 20 minutes left to play.
A Miami penalty at the end of the second gave Minnesota Duluth another power play to start the third. The RedHawks managed to kill off the penalty with little difficulty and keep it within a goal. Shortly after the penalty was killed, Jade Miller got the puck in tight, but Larkin made a couple tremendous saves to leave it a 3-2 contest.
Miami began getting some shifts in the offensive zone sprinkled in and nearly tied it up with a delayed penalty in progress, but Minnesota Duluth recovered after a back door bid to touch it up. MU went on the power play with just under six minutes left, but was unable to get the puck in the scoring areas as the Bulldogs maintained their lead into the latter stages of the period.
The RedHawks pulled Larkin for an extra skater with a minute and a half remaining and managed to gain possession in the offensive zone, but couldn't get another by Shepard as they settled for the split.
The Bulldogs outshot the RedHawks 35-18 on the evening. Both power plays struck multiple times with MU finishing 2-for-3 and UMD going 2-for-6 on the man advantage. Larkin finished the night with 32 saves while Shepard stopped 16 at the other end.
Miami resumes NCHC play on the road on Friday when it begins a series at Omaha. Opening faceoff is at 8:07 p.m. ET.
