GRAND FORKS, N.D. – After a rough opener on Friday night, Miami hockey battled No. 10 North Dakota to the wire but could not completely erase a three-goal deficit in a 5-4 loss on Saturday night.
The RedHawks (2-5-2, 0-2 National Collegiate Hockey) suffer their first weekend sweep of the season with the setback.
A small bout of early North Dakota (7-1-1, 2-0 NCHC) pressure got it on the board first as Collin Adams slipped in front and converted a feed up close to make it a 1-0 game just 3:28 into the contest. Miami managed to answer that tally 1:24 later as
Ryan Savage got some space in transition and wired a wrist shot off the post and in for his second goal of the season.
John Sladic and
Bray Crowder both drew assists by helping spring Savage on the breakout play.
The Fighting Hawks got a power play near the midway point of the frame and play opened up a bit. MU had a look during a 3-on-1 transition rush that missed the net and recovered to block an open net shot on the following 2-on-1 at the other end. Despite avoiding that, Miami fell behind all the same as Jasper Weatherby picked a corner from down low to make it a 2-1 game with 9:40 to go in the first.
Miami once again had an answer shortly after, this tally coming 1:40 after falling behind for the second time.
Monte Graham dug the puck out of a corner scrum and slid it back above the goal line to an awaiting
Phil Knies below the right circle, who shot it off the far post and in for his second goal of the season.
Noah Jordan also picked up a helper on the tally that left it 2-2 with eight minutes showing on the clock.
A North Dakota penalty less than a minute later gave Miami a chance to take the lead on the man advantage, but it was unable to mount much attack as UND kept the score tied. As the period wore on, the Fighting Hawks had a quick strike attack as Jordan Kawaguchi and Westin Michaud scored 11 seconds apart as the RedHawks fell into a 4-2 hole at intermission.
Despite a carryover power play to start the second, offense was hard to come by for large stretches of the period for Miami. After several non-descript minutes both ways, Adams netted his second of the game when he converted a cross-crease pass from Kawaguchi to make it a 5-2 game with 12:10 left in the frame.
With the game starting to get away, the Red & White got a spark on the scoreboard from an unlikely source as
Chaz Switzer was found coming up from the blue line off a turnover and buried a shot in the slot for his second career goal and first since March 4, 2017 against UND. Graham drew his second assist of the night on the tally while
Gordie Green also earned a helper.
Penalties prevented Miami from sustaining attack from that goal as it was forced to kill three-straight penalties, which it did successfully.
Ryan Larkin also made a big stop on Shane Pinto up close to leave it a two-goal game. Miami got a late power play, including a brief 5-on-3, but still skated to the dressing room down by two.
Shots were tough to come by for a long time in the third period as it was 2-1 UND past the midway point of the frame. A North Dakota major penalty with 12:48 left opened the door for a Miami comeback, but it took several minutes before MU was able to get a shot through to Adam Scheel.
A second Fighting Hawks' penalty gave the Red & White another 5-on-3 for over a minute. As the first penalty was expiring,
Derek Daschke got the puck in the middle with space and initiated a give-and-go with Savage that ended with Daschke burying his second goal of the season in the middle to pull the team within 5-4 with 7:45 to go.
Casey Gilling also drew an assist by getting the puck off the half wall and into the middle.
Down a goal, Miami pressed for a tying tally. Savage had a look through traffic in front that Scheel kicked aside. With time winding down, MU pulled Larkin for an extra attacker and hemmed UND in its zone. The Fighting Hawks clogged the lanes though, blocking four attempts while Scheel made two more stops to fend off the RedHawks' surge.
North Dakota outshot Miami 29-23 for the night, though MU had a 7-2 third-period shot advantage. The RedHawks went 1-for-6 on the power play while the Fighting Hawks were 1-for-5 with the man advantage. Both Graham (2 assists) and Savage (1 goal, 1 assist) notched the first multi-point games of their career. Larkin finished the night with 24 saves in goal.
Miami returns home for a league series against two-time defending national champion Minnesota Duluth on Friday and Saturday. Both games start at 7:05 p.m.
