OXFORD, Ohio — Thanks to a St. Thomas natural hat trick in the first 24 minutes, Miami’s six-game losing streak ended on Saturday.
Three early goals by Nathan Pilling lifted the Tommies past the RedHawks, 4-1 at Cady Arena, as the teams split the weekend series.
It was also the first home loss of the season for Miami, which had won its first four games on campus.
Miami (6-2) heads to Minn.-Duluth next weekend for its first NCHC road series of the season.
RECAP: St. Thomas (2-4) took the lead with 1:35 left in the first period on a one-time rip by Pilling from the right faceoff dot on the power play.
Just 37 seconds later, Pilling scored again, this time on a bad-angle shot from the left side of the net that snuck behind Miami goalie Matteo Drobac.
Pilling completed the natural hat trick 3:36 into the middle stanza by ripping a one-timer just under the crossbar from the right faceoff dot, again on the man-advantage.
The Tommies extended their lead to four on a 2-on-0 with 6:53 left in that frame, as Lucas Van Vliet slid the puck under Drobac from the top of the crease on the backhand.
Miami finally broke the shutout on the power play with 6:50 left in regulation when David Helledy fed Kocha Delic, who one-timed a slap shot from the top of the right faceoff circle far post, capping off the scoring.
STATS: Delic’s goal was his fourth of the season, second on the team only to Ilia Morozov’s five.
He picked up a point for the third straight game, the longest current stretch on the team, since Matous Kucharcik’s six-game run ended.
Helledy earned a primary assist, his fourth point of the season — all in the last five games.
Matteo Giampa picked up the other helper, giving him the team lead in points outright with nine.
— Halloween has not been historically kind to Miami, especially in Oxford. The RedHawks dropped to 5-9 all-time on the last day of October and 2-6 at home.
MU hasn’t won a home game on Halloween since 1998, when it beat Western Michigan, 7-4 at Old Goggin. Its other Halloween home win came a year earlier vs. St. Lawrence.
— Miami killed just 1 of 3 penalties and was just 4-for-7 on the PK for the weekend against a St. Thomas team that entered the series converting power plays at a 5.6 percent clip.
But the RedHawks did manage to score on the man-advantage in both games, going 1-for-4 both nights.
ANALYSIS: Miami dominated the first 17 minutes of the game and could have easily scored several goals in the first period.
But as was the theme of the night, the RedHawks couldn’t cash in their quality chances. They fanned on pucks, shot over the net, wide of the net or on net without enough mustard for clean saves.
St. Thomas goalie Will Ingemann was solid as well, stopping 35 shots, and controlled his rebounds all weekend.
Then there was the too many men penalty, and Miami has had too many men take too many too many men penalties the past couple of seasons, and the RedHawks got burned for the opening goal.
Then Pilling scored again 37 seconds later, and the energy level for Miami dipped after that.
Another RedHawks penalty and another power play goal early in the second and it was 3-0. Then 4-0. At that point Miami was obviously chasing the game.
At times it seems like the RedHawks got a little too fancy with their passing and stickhandling, seemingly frustrated their earlier efforts had not paid dividends on the scoreboard.
To its credit and despite the score, Miami outshot St. Thomas, 11-3 in the third period and drew a penalty that resulted in its lone goal in the closing minutes.
— Thought Drobac would be pulled after the third goal or certainly the fourth, since the latter came on St. Thomas’ 11th shot, but coach Anthony Noreen rode him out for the duration, and he stopped the final 13 shots he faced.
The first and third goals were guided missiles, and in his postgame presser, he called the second goal fluky, and the fourth came on a breakaway. He also said he had no issue with his team’s intensity, so that explains why he didn’t pull Drobac to “send a message” — the hockey aphorism coaches use when they change goalies based on team play rather than ineffective goaltending.
Drobac has been incredible overall since setting foot in Oxford, but the second goal should have been stopped, as it snuck behind him at a tight angle. That only happens if the goalie isn’t hugging the post tightly. On the fourth — a breakaway — Van Vliet basically did a backhanding curling release and the puck slid under Drobac’s pads. Good shot but also not unstoppable.
Yegor Yegorov has played in just one game, and while he looked a little nervous early, he stopped 20 of 22 shots (.909) and earned the win at Robert Morris.
It seems like, at the very least, inserting him in the third period would’ve been helpful to both give Drobac a rest and allow Yegorov to earn a little more D-1 experience. But to Drobac’s credit, he shut it down after St. Thomas’ fourth goal.
— Cady Arena was like a tomb, an appropriate enough simile considering it was Halloween. No one’s fault, since the league schedule always starts this time of year, but the late 7:35 start on a holiday certainly did not help attendance, which was barely over 1,500.
LINEUP CHANGES: Ryder Thompson, who blocked a hard shot on Friday and missed the balance of the game, was scratched for the first time this season and just the third time in the sophomore’s career.
Fellow blueliner Jack Hamilton sat as well, and forward Bradley Walker did not dress.
Chuck Blanchard returned up front, and Nicholas Mikan suited up for the first time this season.
Sean McEwen was back on the ice after a one-game absence.
STANDINGS: Denver swept Omaha, so the Pioneers are in sole possession of first place in the NCHC, but the other three conference series were splits, so Miami is in a six-way tie for second place with three league points.
Miami dropped to No. 31 in the NPI following the conclusion of all Division I games on Saturday.
FINAL THOUGHTS: Miami missed too many open looks, especially early, and the RedHawks’ penalty killing unit that was 86 percent efficient entering this series gave up two power play goals on three chances in this game on minors that shouldn’t have happened.
MU played a less than perfect game, things didn’t go the way the RedHawks would’ve liked and St. Thomas capitalized on its chances.
This game was less than enjoyable to watch because of the outcome, but there’s no reason to believe any of the lopsided score residue from Saturday will carry over to next weekend.
Which is fortunate, because earning points in Duluth will be difficult enough for teams at the top of their game.
