OXFORD, Ohio – A stingy defensive performance and 19 saves by
Ryan Larkin paced the Miami hockey team to a 3-0 series opening win over Omaha on Friday night.
The RedHawks (7-19-5, 4-14-3-2 National Collegiate Hockey) snapped an 11-game winless streak with the victory.
In the first minute, both teams traded odd-man chances as
Andrew Sinard got a look and fired wide. On a 3-on-1 counterattack, Omaha (13-15-5, 7-11-3-0 NCHC) set up Joey Abate on his off wing, but his shot hit the post to keep it scoreless a couple minutes in. The Mavericks had another transition opportunity moments later when Kevin Conley fired a wrist shot off the goal post.
Miami started to dictate play in the offensive zone and held a 7-3 shot advantage midway through the opening period. An offensive zone penalty at the 10:51 mark gave Omaha the first power play of the evening. The RedHawks were strong during that two minutes, holding the Mavericks without a shot on goal during a successful penalty kill.
The RedHawks' go-to line of
Casey Gilling,
Karch Bachman and
Gordie Green put them on the board with 3:10 to go in the opening stanza. After dropping the puck to Gilling at the point, Green cut down the right wing and was fed in stride by a return feed from Gilling. Miami's captain then found Bachman in the middle for a tap-in goal to make it a 1-0 contest with his ninth of the season.
Miami ended up outshooting Omaha, 12-6, in the first period and skated to the locker room with the 1-0 lead.
The Mavericks opened the second period with 37 seconds to work with on a carryover power play, but it was the RedHawks who generated the bulk of the chances as
Scott Corbett fed
Monte Graham for a slot one-timer that Isaiah Saville stopped 20 seconds in. MU eventually killed off that power play and went on a man advantage of its own 1:15 into the frame. While Miami did possess the puck for the duration of the time in the offensive zone, it was unable to add to its lead as Omaha killed off the man advantage.
Officials called a tight second period as the teams combined for five power plays in the middle stanza. Omaha went on the man advantage at the 6:31 mark, but came away with just one shot on goal that
Ryan Larkin steered aside. Miami got another crack on the man advantage midway through the period, but again came away with nothing.
With 6:07 left in the second, MU went back to the power play and found the back of the net in short order. Gilling sent the puck below the goal line to
Matt Barry, who quickly sent it to
Ryan Savage for a one-timer blast that beat Saville for his sixth of the year with 5:47 showing on the clock to make it a 2-0 contest.
Omaha went on one more power play with 4:26 left in the second, but Miami was once again able to stymy its attack to maintain a 2-0 lead through 40 minutes.
An early power play in the third allowed Miami to pad its lead further. After the puck was settled down behind the MU net by Larkin,
Rourke Russell head manned it to Green with a head of steam. The senior captain worked his way into the middle and used an Omaha player as a screen as he wired a shot off the left post and in to make it a 3-0 contest with 2:18 gone by in the third.
While the Mavericks to that point had not put much attack together, they did get a good opportunity shortly after Green's goal when Martin Sundberg got fed by himself at the left wing. Larkin proved himself equal to the task and stuck with him as he tried to slide one five-hole on him, keeping Omaha off the board.
Miami got one more power play late in the third and while it did not score, it sustained attack and burned two minutes off the clock to bring it to under five minutes left. MU allowed just six more shots on goal in the third period and picked up its first shutout over a conference opponent since Feb. 27, 2016, when Jay Williams blanked Colorado College for the second straight contest on senior weekend.
The RedHawks outshot the Mavericks 35-19 on the night and went 2-for-5 on the power play while killing off all four UNO man advantages. Green (1g, 1a) and Gilling (2a) each had multiple points while Larkin posted his seventh career shutout with his 19-save performance.
These teams finish up their weekend series on Saturday night at 7:05 p.m. Prior to opening faceoff, Miami will honor its seniors as part of Senior Night.
