GRAND FORKS, N.D. – Sometimes an improbable goal from an impossible angle doesn't seem so unusual to a guy who has been there, done that.

It was true Saturday night when University of North Dakota junior center Luke Johnson drilled the winning goal from the right corner on the end line at 1:23 over overtime to give UND a 4-3 Northern Collegiate Hockey Conference win over Miami and a sweep of the weekend series.

Last March, Johnson scored nearly an idential goal in the NCAA West Regional in Fargo to help advance his team to the Frozen Four. This time Johnson's blistering wrister stayed low to the ice as it sizzled toward the net, where it hit the right skate of Miami goalie Ryan McKay and went through his legs to create bedlam out of a sellout of 11,892 at Ralph Engelstad Arena.

It was Johnson's third goal of the season, the 22nd of his career, and arguably the biggest he's had. Johnson said he practices that shot once in a while.

"But sometimes in practice it'll catch the goalie in the wrong spot, and it might hurt him,'' Johnson said. "So I try not to do it a lot.''

Tonight he did try it, and the pain was all Miami's. The sweep kept UND (4-0-0 NCHC, 9-1-2 overall) tied for first place in the league with 12 points with St. Cloud State. The two teams meet next weekend in St. Cloud.

"I didn't really know what to think,'' Johson said when he saw his shot go in. "I was pretty excited, yeah. Happy to get the win.''

An improbable one it was, in some ways. North Dakota outshot Miami 36-14 overall, missed two clean breakaways, hit a goal post flush and dominated puck control for long stretches of the game. The 14 shots were the fewest UND has allowed in two years. Even so, it took the second goal in two nights by sophomore center Nick Schmaltz -- with UND goalie Matt Hrynkiw (11 saves) pulled for a sixth attacker 2:27 left in the game and Miami leading 3-2.

Schmaltz scooped up the puck in the high slot with 1:34 left in regulation play and backhanded in the tying extra-attacker goal. It was sweet satisfaction for Schmaltz, who missed on a shorthanded breakaway and hit the goal post flush earlier in the game.

The only shot by either team in OT went 5-hole on McKay, giving UND the sweep in the only regular-season meetings between the teams this season.

North Dakota twice had to rally from single-goal deficits, trailing 2-1, then 3-2 when Miami rookie Josh Melnick scored on a deflection at 14:21 of the third period.

"I think some of our guys' energy levels were drained a little bit from last night (a 6-2 UND win),'' UND coach Brad Berry said. "They didn't have quite the gas they did last night. But there was no panic. They stuck with it. Proud of them as a group. That's a pretty young group, that's a pretty good learning lesson.''

McKay, who was pulled after one period after giving up three goals Friday, was outstanding on Saturday. He finished with 32 saves and gave up nothing easy, until Johnson caught him by surprise with his corner blitzer.

Schmaltz said UND did a good job of staying with the game plan rather than let frustration build over missed opportunities.

"It obviously was frustrating, but we decided to stick with it and keep making plays,'' Schmaltz said. "We knew one was going to fall for us, so we got one late. Then Johnson whipped (a shot) to the net, and got a lucky bounce.... so good weekend.''

UND took a 1-0 lead just 51 seconds into the game. Schmaltz won an offensive faceoff draw back to the right point, where defenseman Tucker Poolman's wrist shot hit the shaft of the stick of UND rookie Brock Boeser and deflected in for Boeser's seventh in 12 games.

But Miami struck back with a power-play goal from Louie Belpedio at 15:12 of the second period and a go-ahead goal -- his first of the season -- by Sean Kuraly at 17:03 on a rebound.

But Berry was forced to mix and match line combinations after senior forward Bryn Chyzyk left with an injury late in the second period and did not return. Freshman Rhett Gardner scored his second in as many nights on a feed to the front of the net from Drake Caggiula at 5:06 of the third period to tie it a 2-2. Melnick then put Miami ahead again, only to see Schmaltz come back with the dramatic extra-attacker goal, then Johnson's seeing-eye shot in OT to give UND the sweep.

Game Notes: UND failed to get a shot on net on a 5-on-3 power play for 47 seconds in the first period, losing an offensive zone faceoff and going offsides on a zone entry to destroy that possible game-changing situation ... Poolman, back this weekend after missing four games with injury, played some shifts at forward late in the game after Chyzyk was hurt. Poolman led UND in the plus/minus category at plus-4. Caggiula was next at plus-3 ... Boeser led UND in shots on goal with 5 ... Johnson, Schmaltz and Trevor Olson had 3 each ... Hrynkiw, who started the season as UND's No. 3 goalie until injuries to other goalies gave him a chance, improved his won-lost record to 8-1-1 ... UND defenseman Paul LaDue sat out after being injured Friday and Miami's Zach LaValle missed the game after breaking his jaw in Friday's game.

Virg Foss covered UND hockey for the Grand Forks Herald for 35 seasons before his retirement. He is now in his 11th season of reporting on UND home games exclusively for UNDsports.com.