North Dakota kept alive its NCAA tournament hopes while likely ending Omaha’s with a dramatic 4-3 come-from-behind overtime win. Nick Jones scored the winner just 53 seconds into the extra session when he got the puck behind the goal line off a rebound from Jordan Kawaguchi’s shot and banked it in off goalie Evan Weninger’s back. The win advanced North Dakota to its fifth straight Frozen Faceoff.
Matt Kiersted got North Dakota on the board first at 10:13 with a rocket slap shot from the right point that deflected off an Omaha player and then hit the left post, bounced back out and hit Omaha goalie Evan Weninger in the back, and then slid just inside the right post.
Dixon Bowen made it 2-0 at 14:05 when he was sprung on a breakaway by a nice breakout pass from Trevor Olson, who got the puck near the right boards in his own zone and banked a pass through the neutral zone off the right boards to Bowen, who raced in on Weninger and cut through the slot going to his left and backhanded it in.
Omaha quickly got one back though when Lukas Buchta fired a blast from the right point and Teemu Pulkkinen got in front and deflected it past Cam Johnson. Pulkkinen then tied it at 5:25 of the second just as a power play was about to expire, as he got the puck at the left faceoff dot and roofed a perfect shot top corner glove side.
Omaha seemed to score and a take a lead early in the third on Luke Nogard’s wraparound, but a lengthy video review determined it was a no-goal. However, shortly after that, Omaha took the lead during a wild scrum that ended when Jake Randolph got a rebound in the slot and shot it into an open net at 5:47. Johnson had been pulled out of position be an earlier attempt.
North Dakota rallied to tie it at 10:14 on a power play when Jones stationed himself in front of Weninger and deflected Colton Poolman’s blast from the left point top shelf, setting the stage for the OT heroics.
Johnson made 18 saves in the win, while Weninger made 29 in the loss.
