Minnesota Duluth rallied from a two-goal deficit and scored five unanswered goals Friday night to defeat host Miami (Ohio) 5-2, strengthening its bid for a NCHC fourth-place finish and a home series in the upcoming quarterfinal playoffs.
The Bulldogs improved to 18-12-0 overall and 9-11-0 in conference play. Miami fell to 17-11-2, 8-10-2. See NCHC Standings
Miami carried the early edge.
Doug Grimes opened the scoring at 14:04 of the first period with an unassisted goal, his ninth of the season, giving the RedHawks a 1-0 lead. David Deputy pushed the margin to 2-0 at 6:15 of the second period, finishing a play set up by Kocha Delic for his 15th goal.
Minnesota Duluth responded on special teams.
Hunter Anderson cut the deficit to 2-1 with a power-play goal at 12:34 of the second, converting a feed from Grayden Siepmann and Kyle Gaffney. Max Plante tied it 2-2 at 17:21, scoring at even strength off assists from Jayson Shaugabay and Gaffney. Plante’s goal was his 21st of the season.
The Bulldogs seized control in the third.
Scout Truman delivered the game-winner at 3:13 on the power play, finishing assists from Siepmann and Anderson to give Minnesota Duluth its first lead at 3-2. It was Truman’s 11th goal of the season.
Shaugabay extended the lead to 4-2 at 15:16, scoring at even strength off a setup from Plante for his 10th goal. Callum Arnott sealed the victory with an unassisted empty-net goal at 19:33, his 11th of the season.
Minnesota Duluth outshot Miami 32-29 and went 2-for-5 on the power play while killing all four Miami opportunities.
The teams will wrap up their two-game NCHC series Saturday night.