GRAND FORKS, N.D. — In much a similar fashion as Friday night, it was Miami that struck first.
However, North Dakota’s four unanswered goals ended it differently, and were enough for a 4-1 victory over the RedHawks Saturday night in front of 11,802 at Ralph Engelstad Arena.
“We started a little bit better, and I think we were a little harder on pucks in all three zones,” UND coach Dave Hakstol said. “That’s probably the biggest difference. Those sound like simple, small differences, but they make a pretty big difference over 60 minutes if you’re doing them shift after shift, which I thought we did.”
Anthony Louis put the RedHawks’ lone point on the board at 1:07 of the second period, while UND’s top line of Mark MacMillan, Michael Parks, and Drake Caggiula each tallied goals for North Dakota.
Caggiula scored two —- making his first a highlight-reel play in the second period when he dangled the puck through Ben Paulides’ skates and flipped it five-hole past Ryan McKay (23 saves) after catching a pass from Bryn Chyzyk.
Chyzyk took a hit that leveled him at center ice, allowing Caggiula to finish to play.
“That’s what started the play,” Hakstol said. “Drake caught a defenseman flat footed. We’ve seen him do those things before, and it was nice to see him finish in it. He made no mistake once he was in all alone on the goaltender. It was a quite a play.”
North Dakota capitalized on its chances, but also knew it had to create its own.
“We were forcing them to make plays,” Caggiula said. “We know when you take away their time and space that they’re going to turn over the puck, and we did a great job making them turn over the puck. So we created our own offense with our speed and finished our checks and did everything we needed to do to be successful.”
[photoshelter-gallery g_id=”G0000tIOpz3G6QmQ” g_name=”20141115-Miami-of-Ohio-University-North-Dakota-Bradley-K-Olson” f_show_caption=”t” f_show_slidenum=”t” img_title=”casc” pho_credit=”iptc” f_link=”t” f_bbar=”t” fsvis=”f” width=”500″ height=”375″ bgcolor=”#AAAAAA” bgtrans=”t” btype=”old” bcolor=”#CCCCCC” crop=”f” trans=”xfade” tbs=”4000″ f_ap=”t” linkdest=”c” f_fullscreen=”f” f_constrain=”f” twoup=”f” f_topbar=”f” f_bbarbig=”” f_htmllinks=”f” f_enable_embed_btn=”f” f_show_watermark=”f” f_send_to_friend_btn=”f” f_smooth=”f” f_mtrx=”f” f_up=”f” target=”_self” wmds=”llQ6QNgpeC.p1Ucz7U.f2JUpkOlc0988XAUUWrxKFpN9q4qoO4vB1Oq34WBieSPJzl41Bg–” ]Miami nearly tallied the first point of the game in a scramble in front of the net with just over a minute remaining in the opening frame, but its celebration was short-lived as the play was reviewed and deemed not a goal due to goaltender interference.
Anthony Louis made sure the RedHawks scored first, though, with his backhand shot from the slot that went five-hole past Zane McIntyre (28 saves) at 1:07 of the second period.
“You’ve got to get up a couple on them and keep it going,” Miami coach Enrico Blasi said. “We weren’t able to get that second goal. It’s just the way it goes. They’re a good hockey team and we knew they were going to push. I think we tried to push back. It is what it is, credit goes to them.”
North Dakota responded with the equalizer minutes later when Parks created a turnover in the offensive zone and sent the puck from the bottom of the circle to MacMillan at the top of the crease for the tip-in past McKay at 3:47.
The teams wouldn’t be even for long, as Caggiula put UND up 2-1 minutes later with his play of the game at 6:06.
The MacMillan and Parks duo set up another play at 15:22 —- MacMillan bringing the puck into the zone and feeding a perfect pass to Parks for the one-timer and two-goal lead over the RedHawks after two periods.
Caggiula followed up with his second goal at 9:07 of the third on a power play with a shot from the circle.
While the NCHC foes fought another tight battle, North Dakota rebounded from the 3-2 loss it was dealt Friday night and used its speed to come out ahead on Saturday.
“I thought it was another good game,” Blasi said. “Obviously they executed a couple more plays than we did, but I thought both teams played hard again tonight. I felt like they maybe had a little bit more jump than we did tonight. So credit goes to them, they deserve to win.”
