Despite entering overtime with a minute-plus 4-on-3 power play, Miami lost in overtime yet again.
This time the RedHawks fell, 4-3 vs. Mercyhurst at Cady Arena, slipping to a ridiculous 1-10-14 in overtime under coach Chris Bergeron.
Miami (4-8-1) is now 0-2 all-time on home ice vs. the Lakers, has lost seven straight overall and is winless in its last eight.
RECAP: Mercyhurst (4-6-2) opened the scoring eight minutes into the first period when Marko Reifenberger tipped in a wrister from the left point by Adrien Bisson.
Miami tied it with 2:45 left in the first period, as P.J. Fletcher sent a pass into the top of the crease for Matthew Barbolini, who redirected it past goalie Owen Say on the power play.
Raimonds Vitolins gave the RedHawks the lead 3:37 into the middle frame, redirecting a pass from the high slot on net from the top of the crease, corralling the rebound and stuffing it in.
The Lakers tied it 4 1/2 minutes later when Steven Agriogianis skated in alone off a feed from Kyler Head and beat Miami goalie Logan Neaton on the glove side.
MU regained the lead 38 seconds into the third period on a rebound shot by Barbolini off a blue line wrister from Fletcher.
But Mercyhurst’s Keanan Stewart tied it on a top-shelf wrister from the left faceoff dot with 8:41 left in regulation.
The Lakers’ Philip Waugh beat Neaton on a slap shot from the left point with 1:08 remaining in the extra session.
STATS: Barbolini went 2-1-3, which is — believe it or not — his first career multi-goal game.
He leads the team with 17 points.
Fletcher finished with a goal and an assist, his eighth multi-point game as a Miamian and his second in the last three games. He is 2-3-5 during his team-best three-game points streak.
Vitolins also went 1-1-2, his third two-point game in 11 career contests as a RedHawk.
Defenseman Jack Clement and Zane Demsey also picked up assists. It was the fourth point of the season for Clement and the second for Demsey.
ANALYSIS: Miami outshot Mercyhurst, 7-1 in overtime, including an 81-second 4-on-3 power play, but couldn’t finish off the Lakers.
The RedHawks were the better team overall by a slim margin but certainly didn’t dominate like a team eager to shed a month-long losing streak, especially on their home ice.
LINEUP CHANGES: Teddy Lagerback was back in the lineup at forward, replacing Dylan Moulton as Miami again went with this bizarre eight-defensemen strategy that has netted zero wins.
Clement and Michael Feenstra apparently had their names drawn out of the hat to determine the team’s ever-changing first pairing for this game.
FINAL THOUGHTS: Sometimes in hockey, and other sports, the better team doesn’t win, and that’s what we saw on Friday.
That said, that should be the exception and not the rule, and Miami has lost way too many games to teams is should’ve beaten in similar fashion the past few seasons.
A .271 winning percentage over 144 games isn’t an accident.
Mercyhurst deserves a ton of credit for battling all game, overcoming a pair of one-goal deficits and ultimately pulling out the overtime win.
But regardless of the circumstance, the RedHawks can’t let this game — one of their few remaining winnable contests — slip away, especially on home ice.
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