Ben Steeves finished with 21 goals last season, but he was held without a point in the two games Minn.-Duluth played against Miami.
Steeves has more than made up for that scoreless weekend in 2023-24, as he scored three times and added an assist as the Bulldogs pounded Miami, 6-2 at Amsoil Arena on Friday.
Steeves, who vaulted into second in Division I goals with 20, has found the net six times in three games vs. the RedHawks this season after being held off the scoresheet last season in Oxford.
Miami (7-14-2) dropped its third straight game and slipped to 1-11-1 in NCHC play.
RECAP: At the 7:22 mark of the first period, UMD’s Quinn Olson skated through the Miami defense and carried the puck to the goal line on the right side of the net, centering a backhand pass to a streaking Steeves at the top of the crease, and he jammed it in.
The Bulldogs (9-11-4) made took a two-goal lead 26 seconds into the middle frame when Luke Loheit skated into the offensive zone on the right wing and whipped a wrist shot through Miami goalie Bruno Bruveris.
The RedHawks trimmed the deficit to one with 9:02 left in that stanza when Axel Kumlin sent a wrist shot on net from the blue line that Teddy Lagerback tipped past UMD goalie Zach Stejskal in the slot.
On his second goal, Steeves misfired on a shot attempt from down low and in the chaos, recovered and whipped the puck inside the near post to make it 3-1 with 4:08 left in the second period.
The Bulldogs went up three less than three minutes later, as Kyle Bettens skated through the Miami defense on a 3-on-2, skated across the top of the crease and tucked the puck inside the glove-side post.
Steeves capped off his hat trick 49 seconds into the third period when he ripped a one-timer from above the right faceoff circle just under the crossbar, giving UMD a 5-1 lead.
The Bulldogs’ Blake Biondi skated unabated through the neutral zone to set up a 2-on-1, and he shoveled a shot, top shelf near post with 7:58 remaining to blow it open.
Miami wrapped up the scoring with 4:41 left, with Ryan Sullivan redirecting a pass from P.J. Fletcher at the top of the crease on the power play.
STATS: Lagerback’s goal was the first of his career and his second overall collegiate point, with his other coming on an assist in Miami’s 5-4 win over Arizona State.
Sullivan netted his second marker of the season, a total the senior has finished with each of the past two seasons with UMass. His fourth point of 2023-24 also tied a career high.
Kumlin snapped a 13-game point drought dating back to Nov. 3 vs. St. Cloud State. He has seven points this season, with six coming on three multi-point games.
Fletcher picked up an assist for his 19th point of the season, two behind team leader Matthew Barbolini.
Artur Turansky also earned a helper, just his second point in his last 19 games. He opened 2023-24 with five points in three contests.
— Miami was actually a net positive on special teams for the first time in 10 games, going plus-1 for the game. The RedHawks were 1-for-5 on the power play and killed two penalties — and a penalty shot we’ll discuss below.
— MU finished 35-21 on faceoffs (.625), with Albin Nilsson winning 15 of 19 draws.
— Some ugly plus-minus numbers: John Waldron finished minus-6, Nilsson minus-5 and defenseman Dylan Moulton minus-4.
ANALYSIS: Amazing that this is what passes for a high point these days, but Miami went 3-3-1 over a seven-game stretch from Nov. 26 to Jan. 13, and overall defending improved drastically in that span.
But as has happened so often in recent history, that display was fool’s gold. After making major strides in shutting down Grade-A chances, on Friday the RedHawks reverted to shoddy coverage, allowed UMD to skate into and through Miami defensive zone at will, and more defenders were caught out of position or pinching.
It was obvious from the opening seconds this was going to be an issue in this game, as a UMD skater penetrated the high slot and stepped into a slap shot that Bruveris fortunately fielded cleanly off the opening puck drop.
Miami had gone eight games allowing three goals or fewer but has surrendered 10 in the last two.
If the RedHawks don’t fix that trend, they’re in for a long final six weeks.
— After Minn.-Duluth scored its sixth goal, Carter McPhail, Miami’s third goalie, hit the ice for the first time in 26 months when he played for Ferris State.
Minn.-Duluth was assessed a penalty shot soon after, and McPhail made the save on the first shot he had faced in over two years. He went on to turn aside three more shots as he blanked the Bulldogs for the final 7:58 after having not seen action since November of 2021.
McPhail’s shutout streak is now 21:10.
MU’s first-string goalie, Logan Neaton, is week-to-week with a lower-body injury.
— Speaking of injuries, the RedHawks were without two-thirds of their top line, Barbolini and Raimonds Vitolins. Both are also week-to-week.
But UMD was missing four of its centers, a key reason for its paltry faceoff percentage.
— That was the 10th hat trick allowed by Miami the past 1 1/2 seasons, with eight coming in 2022-23, five of which were natural.
LINEUP CHANGES: None. Of the six scratches, five were injured.
STANDINGS: With Omaha earning points, Miami is now nine points clear of the field in conference play with just four.
The RedHawks — 0-7 on the road in league play — dropped to No. 45 in the PairWise.
FINAL THOUGHTS: We get the injuries, but Duluth is just as banged up, with literally almost no centers available, but the Bulldogs seemed to have no problem powering their way to the win.
Duluth was 4-7-1 in the NCHC entering Friday, and with both teams walking triage units, this is a winnable series for Miami.
Yet, except for the early moments of the second period, after the Bulldogs had taken a two-goal lead, MU didn’t seem like it played at nearly the same level as UMD, which worked harder and took advantage of RedHawks defensive miscues.
This was a critical four-game road trip for Miami to see if it was serious about getting back into contention in this league, and after earning zero points in its first three games and falling nine points out of seventh, it’s going to be extremely difficult for the RedHawks just to get out of the NCHC cellar.
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