OXFORD, Ohio – Despite grabbing a two-goal lead for the third-straight game, the Miami hockey team was unable to sustain a strong start on the scoreboard and dropped a 3-2 decision to No. 5 Denver on Friday night.
MU drops to 6-13-4 on the season (3-8-2-1 National Collegiate Hockey).
Both teams felt each other out in the early going, though Ryan Barrow had probably the best chance of the first few minutes when he got free and hit a post a minute and a half into the contest. While Denver had the early territorial edge, Miami's first sustained possession of the night paid dividends at the 5:20 mark.
Chase Pletzke one-timed a
Ben Lown pass in the slot and Magnus Chrona made the initial save. After the puck ended up in a sea of bodies,
Carter Johnson picked it out and roofed a shot for his first goal of the season to make it a 1-0 game.
An offensive zone faceoff turned into another Miami goal as
Phil Knies puck up the puck at the half wall after DU won the initial puck drop. After it finally worked out to
Matt Barry at the right faceoff dot, the sophomore fed a cross-ice pass to
Bray Crowder, who one-timed his first career goal from the left circle to make it a 2-0 contest with nine minutes to play in the first period.
The Pioneers (16-4-5, 6-3-4-3 NCHC) had the lone power play chance of the opening frame and after a shorthanded rush by the RedHawks, they found the net as Kohen Olischefski got the puck alone atop the crease and put it in with 5:58 to play in the opening frame. That capped the scoring in a period that Miami held a 10-9 shot advantage.
Another Denver power play tied things up 2:26 into the second period as Olischefski jammed in a loose puck after an initial
Ryan Larkin save to tie things up.
Miami had a power play of its own shortly after the tying tally, but despite some extended possession in the offensive zone, was unable to mount much attack as the game remained tied up nearing the midway point of the contest.
Denver got another man advantage in the latter stages of the second, a period in which it held a 16-7 shot advantage, but Miami was able to kill off that power play and leave the score tied through 40 minutes.
The score remained tied with few shots occurring at either end over the first five minutes of the frame. However, a screened point shot from DU's Griffin Mendel snuck through traffic to give the Pioneers a 3-2 lead with 13:45 left in regulation.
Offense remained difficult to come by the rest of the way and Miami eventually pulled
Ryan Larkin for an extra skater to try to press for offense in the final two minutes, but was unable to generate a tying tally.
The Pioneers outshot the RedHawks 33-23 on the night and went 2-for-3 on the power play while killing off the lone MU man advantage. Larkin finished with 30 saves to become Miami's career leader with 2,997 career saves.
These teams wrap up their weekend series on Saturday night. Opening faceoff is at 7:05 p.m.
