DULUTH, Minn. – A high-scoring affair saw the Miami hockey team go back and forth with No. 3 Minnesota Duluth, but the Bulldogs scored the lone third-period tally to down the RedHawks 6-5 on Saturday.
Miami falls to 11-19-4 on the season, 5-15-2-1 in National Collegiate Hockey Conference play.
Things got off to a frantic start right off the get go when Nick Wolff netted two goals 23 seconds apart to stake UMD (21-9-2, 14-7-1-0 NCHC) to a 2-0 lead with just 1:26 gone by. MU would answer with a barrage of power play goals in the opening frame as
Josh Melnick fired a shot from the slot past Hunter Shepard during a 5-on-3 to cut the gap to 2-1 with 4:47 expired off the clock.
Grant Hutton and
Jordan Uhelski each picked up helpers on the play.
Â
The Red & White would follow that up by converting on the second penalty as
Jonathan Gruden netted his third goal of the season on assists from
Brian Hawkinson and Hutton, leaving the score 2-2 with 14:18 left in the opening frame.
Minnesota Duluth would regain the lead ona. power play tally of its own as Riley Tufte jammed the puck past Uhelski to make it 3-2 with 10:30 showing on the clock in the first. That lead would not last until intermission, however, as Hutton blasted home a slapshot on the power play for MU's third power-play tally of the period to leave it all square at 3-3 at the break.
Gordie Green and Melnick picked up helpers on the tally.
Â
Dylan Samberg put the Bulldogs back in front for the third time at the 2:58 mark of the second, but the RedHawks responded in kind.
Gordie Green struck to even it up with 5:52 gone by before
Carter Johnson netted an unassisted goal with 12:21 showing on the second period clock.
Â
It appeared that lead would hold into intermission, but Parker Mackay tallied a power play goal with 20 seconds left in the frame to leave it a 5-5 tie after 40 minutes.
The Bulldogs outshot the RedHawks by a 7-2 margin in the third and Kobe Roth snapped the tie with 13:17 left in the frame. MU was unable to find the tying goal down the stretch as UMD finished out the sweep.
Minnesota Duluth outshot Miami by a 39-19 margin. Miami was 3-for-5 on the power play while UMD was 2-for-4 on the man advantage. Hutton (1g, 2a), Melnick (1g, 1a) and Green (1g, 1a) each posted multi-point games for MU. Uhelski stopped 33 shots in net while Shepard made 14 saves in the other end.
Miami returns to the ice on Friday when it begins its final regular season series, hosting Western Michigan. Openinf faceoff is at 7:35 p.m.
Â
