DENVER – Stellar goaltending from
Ryan Larkin and some opportunistic offense led the Miami hockey team to a 3-1 win at No. 7/7 Denver on Friday night.
Larkin finished with 46 saves and Miami (11-16-4, 5-12-2-1 National Collegiate Hockey) scored on three of its first eight shots to pick up its second-straight win.
Following a choppy first few minutes, Miami found the back of the net on its first shot of the night. After going from D-to-D at the point,
Alec Mahalak flung the puck towards the crease and
Ryan Siroky got a stick on the feed to redirect home his sixth goal of the season.
Derek Daschke also picked up a helper as MU grabbed the lead just 3:08 into the contest.
Miami nearly grabbed a 2-0 lead shortly thereafter when
Grant Hutton fired a shot past Devin Cooley, but it clanged off the crossbar and stayed out. MU went on a power play following that, but didn't generate much on the man advantage as it remained a 1-0 contest after six minutes and change.
The Pioneers (16-8-4, 8-8-2-2 NCHC) fired 12 of the last 13 shots on goal in the opening frame to outshoot the RedHawks 17-5 overall in the frame. Larkin stood tall throughout the frame, including on a heavy shot sequence in the closing seconds to keep MU on top thanks to Siroky's goal.
After a good early stop by Larkin in the second, MU's opportunistic offense went back to work the same way it got on the board as Siroky redirected a point shot from
River Rymsha to make it a 2-0 contest at the 1:53 mark.
Karch Bachman also drew a helper by feeding the point as Siroky picked up his first multi-goal game of his career.
It took just 47 seconds for MU to make it a 3-0 contest.
Josh Melnick dropped the puck to Bachman with a head of steam down the left wing. He weaved into the middle on his backhand and fired one past Cooley. Daschke also drew an assist for his second point of the night.
Larkin continued to stand tall in the second, stopping all 10 shots he faced in the frame as MU skated to the dressing room with the three-goal cushion.
Denver fired 20 of its 47 shots in the third period and seemed to create some momentum when Ian Mitchell fired a puck through traffic for a power play goal 3:35 into the frame. Larkin was sharp down the stretch, making more key stops, including one point-blank chance by Jack Doremus.
The Pioneers pulled Cooley with about three minutes left, but Larkin kept them from getting any closer to give the RedHawks their second-straight win.
Denver outshot Miami 47-21 on the night, but Siroky netted a pair of goals while Bachman (1g, 1a) and Daschke (2a) had multi-point nights. Larkin finished with a season-high 46 saves in the win while Cooley made 18 saves at the other end. DU finished 1-for-2 on the power play while MU was 0-for-3 on the man advantage.
These teams wrap up their series on Saturday with the puck dropping at 9:07 p.m.
