OXFORD, Ohio — Sometimes, one play can change the course of a game.
What Nick Swaney did late in the first period Friday could certainly qualify.
Six seconds into Miami's third power play of the period. Swaney turned on the jets to race down a loose puck off a faceoff win by Justin Richards. Swaney got behind the Miami defense and scored while getting tripped by Derek Daschke to 1) give UMD a 1-0 lead with a beauty of a short-handed goal, and 2) nullify the RedHawk power play.
UMD then rolled up three goals in an 89-second span of the second period and went on to a 4-0 win over Miami Friday night.
Hunter Shepard made 23 saves for his third shutout of the season while adding to his UMD career record with his 11th. Shepard was sharp throughout. Miami had 11 shots during five power plays, with four shots each in two different man-advantage opportunities. He stopped a Gordie Green one-timer in the third off a nice setup by Miami, and stood tall in the first period when Miami had some good chances to get the lead.
And the run support showed up, thanks to Swaney. He seems to be turning it on a bit here as January goes on. The sophomore has five points (including three goals, two of which were game-winners) in five games since the Bulldogs returned from holiday break, giving him 14 points (seven goals, seven assists) on the season (he has played in 19 of UMD's 21 games). He has five goals and seven points in nine NCHC games played (of UMD's 11). And Swaney is averaging nearly five shots per game since returning from break (23 shots in five games).
In the second, UMD put the game away quickly. Dylan Samberg set up Jackson Cates on the doorstep to make it 2-0 at 3:45. That goal broke a 12-game goal and six-game point drought for Cates. His younger brother, Noah, got in on the action with a power play goal at 4:40 that was set up by a tremendous play by Scott Perunovich, who shook off a defender on the wall and created space for himself to make a pass across the line that Noah one-timed home with a nice low shot. 34 seconds later, Riley Tufte led a two-on-one rush and passed across the slot to Justin Richards. The play was broken up at the front of the net by a diving defender, but the puck got away from the defender and goalie Ryan Larkin, leaving an open net for senior captain Parker Mackay to find for his ninth goal of the season. Miami pulled Larkin for Alabama-Huntsville transfer Jordan Uhelski, who stopped UMD's last 15 shots, but the damage was done.
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Was it perfect? No, but it never really is. UMD was a bit too loose at times, took three stick fouls in the first period (I'm counting Mackay's holding the stick penalty as a stick foul, and you can't stop me because it's my blog!), and missed on a five-minute power play in the third when it appeared the chances were there.
There are a few examples of things I'd expect the coaches to try to clean up going into Saturday.
But let's be honest: That was a good 60-minute road performance at a time where the doctor was asking for one.
Among the skaters, only Mikey Anderson (who was very strong again) and Jade Miller (the fourth line had a pretty good night, too) didn't register a shot. Even seventh defenseman Hunter Lellig got some shifts and looked pretty good.
On Lellig, I had a conversation with assistant coach Adam Krause on Tuesday, part of what turned into a pretty long meeting in his office talking about a bunch of different subjects. Lellig came up, and Krause raved about his work habits and on-ice improvement. Lellig was the seventh defenseman for last Saturday's game against St. Cloud State and never got on the ice. Krause runs the defensemen, and he didn't let that happen again Friday. Lellig got a shift pretty early in the first period, and while his playing time was sporadic, getting him in the game early made it easier for Krause to work him in at various points in the game. He finished with a shot on goal, two blocked shots, and was a plus-one.
The penalty kill saw a streak of 33 successful kills in a row end last weekend against St. Cloud State, but UMD cranked it back up Friday. Yeah, Miami had a few chances on a power play in the second when it was 4-0, and the RedHawks probably had too many looks for UMD's liking in general. But the Bulldogs generated chances and shots in each of Miami's first three power plays, culminating in Swaney's sweet goal to get UMD on the board. Shepard continues to be a huge part of this effort, but he isn't alone and that's a good thing.
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In my pregame blog, I noted the struggles of Perunovich at the offensive end. Heading into Friday, he had zero goals and two points in eight games. Over that stretch, UMD was 3-4-1 and averaging 2.4 goals per game (the Bulldogs are at 3.05 goals per game this season).
I asked head coach Scott Sandelin about Perunovich before Friday's game. Here's what he had to say, edited for clarity, starting with his thoughts on last weekend's series, where it felt like Perunovich often had precious few options for where to go with the puck.
“I told Scotty, if you don't have options, go. I think our forwards did a poor job of getting open and giving him opportunities to get the puck up the rink. I think there were opportunities that he did have to get pucks up, but maybe because it didn't happen consistently, he was holding on to pucks a little too long. I think, overall, he did control the puck fairly well, and he had a pretty good weekend. It's not all about points for me.
“As a defenseman, you have to have options. He's not a guy who's just going to throw pucks away because he's got the ability to hold on to it and make guys miss him and create something. I want him to be able to give and go and join, and not have to go end to end with pucks. But when he does, he's like a fourth forward for us.
“He's got that ability to do some things one on one that other guys don't. I certainly don't want that to be the primary thing for him, because that's not good for him. That's going to put him in tougher situations. But he certainly has that ability. And if our forwards aren't getting open and creating opportunities for him to move the puck, he's either going to use his partner or he's going to have to do that (just go).”
Translated: There are times that Perunovich needs to do a better job taking what's there, but there are also situations where his teammates need to do more to help him.
The power play goal by Noah Cates Friday was vintage Perunovich. He juked his way off a check on the boards, then flung a quick pass to the middle for the one-timer. It isn't going to show up on SportsCenter, but it was nice to see that play happen and a goal come from him making it.
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The rest of the NCHC from Friday:
St. Cloud State 3 Western Michigan 0; Two of the three Poehlings (Nick and Jack) scored, Micah Miller got his first career goal, and David Hrenak made it stand up with 23 saves for the shutout.
North Dakota 4 Omaha 3; Jackson Keane scored for UND with 1:50 left in a back-and-forth affair; Omaha was outshot 37-20 but got two power play goals to hang around.
Denver at Colorado College was postponed after the Pioneers' bus could only get to Monument, about two-thirds of the way from Denver to Colorado Springs, due to heavy snow; the teams will meet in Denver Saturday night and make up this postponement in February or March.
5:30pm pregame for us on Saturday. There is winter weather expected, with a Winter Storm Warning in effect, but the Bulldogs don't stay far from the arena, and unless it's bad enough to shut down campus I can't imagine there being any issues getting this game in. That said, follow me on Twitter (@BruceCiskie) and Snapchat (bciskie) for updates on whatever ends up happening in Oxford.
