No. 20 Miami was poised to pull off its biggest upset of the season, scoring three unanswered goals in the second period to take a two-goal lead.
Then No. 3 North Dakota answered with a pair of tallies in the final 20 minutes and another in overtime to edge the RedHawks, 4-3 at Ralph Engelstad Arena on Saturday.
Miami (17-11-2) receives one point for making it to overtime.
The RedHawks host Minn.-Duluth next weekend in their final regular season home series.
RECAP: North Dakota (23-7) jumped ahead with 4:08 left in the first period on a rip by E.J. Emery from the right faceoff circle that beat Miami goalie Matteo Drobac low to the stick side.
Then the second period started.
Eighty-two seconds in, Miami’s Ryder Thompson fired a puck in on net from the left point that was kicked out to the left faceoff circle, where Doug Grimes made like a whirling dervish and whacked the loose puck past Jan Spunar to tie the score.
Just 1:51 later, MU’s Michael Quinn fired a one-timer that hit Spunar and kicked out to the slot, where Delic cashed in the rebound on his forehand.
With 6:36 left in the frame, Ryan Smith stole a puck at his defensive blue line, skated in and roofed one from the right faceoff dot to make it 3-1.
Then the third period started.
North Dakota’s Abram Wiebe centered a pass from the half wall to a waiting Mac Swanson, who one-timed an unabated slap shot past Drobac on the blocker side from the slot, trimming the Miami lead to one.
The RedHawks were called for holding with 3:11 remaining, and UND’s Jake Livanavage rammed a shot from the left faceoff circle home to tie the score on a 6-on-4.
Wiebe drove the net from the right wing and tucked the puck under Drobac 1:35 into overtime to win it.
ANALYSIS: Miami held its own with North Dakota in the opening minutes, but then RedHawks took a penalty, and though the Fighting Hawks didn’t score on it, they took over play, culminating in Emery’s goal.
The RedHawks did piece together a couple of quality shifts in the final couple minutes of the frame.
The second period might have been Miami’s best of the season, especially the first 15 minutes. MU absolutely dominated, outshooting UND, 11-4 in that span, with a pair of the Fighting Hawks’ shots coming in the first minutes.
North Dakota deserves a ton of credit for scoring in the opening minute of the final frame, and the Fighting Hawks kept their feet…err…talons(?) on the gas all period, and Miami was able to save, block, or otherwise defend every scoring chance thrown its way.
Then Bradley Walker is called for holding. Which on the surface is a legit call. He held onto a UND skater a little too long in the corner while defending. But it had no impact on the play, there were three minutes left in regulation and the officials had assessed one non-coincidental penalty all game, and that was also against Miami.
That set up a 6-on-4, which is essentially a death sentence with a power play as good as North Dakota’s, and Miami still killed all but 34 seconds of it before Livanavage’s tying goal.
Overtime could have gone either way, but Wiebe drove the net and beat Drobac to win it.
Total credit to North Dakota for being the better overall team this weekend, but it’s tough to see the game decided on a late call when so much was let go earlier.
LINEUP CHANGES: The walking triage unit that is Miami lost Matteo Giampa again on Friday in the first period, and he was scratched for this game.
Despite missing four games in January, Giampa is second on the team with 20 points.
Fortunately for the RedHawks, Nicholas Mikan — who was injured for Miami’s last four contests — returned to the lineup to replace him.
More to come on Sunday…
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