OMAHA, Neb. – Omaha entered this weekend's NCHC series against North Dakota with the nation's second-best power play, converting on a scorching 27 percent of its opportunities. On Friday night versus visiting North Dakota, it managed to increase that percentage.
The Mavericks scored on their first three power-play chances, needing just four shots on goal to do so, and erased a pair of two-goal deficits to defeat the Fighting Hawks 6-3 at Baxter Arena.
The defeat dropped UND down to No. 15 in the national Pairwise rankings. It also left the Fighting Hawks, with one win in their last eight games, tied with Minnesota Duluth for the fourth and final home ice spot for the conference playoffs.
UND built a 2-0 lead in the first period but the Mavericks came roaring back with a four-goal middle frame and finished the night having scored five unanswered goals. Freshmen Jordan Kawaguchi and Matt Kiersted (PPG) scored the first-period goals, then Shane Gersich (PPG) and UNO's Tyler Vesel (PPG) traded tallies in the first six minutes of the second period.
It was all Mavericks from there, beginning with a Teemu Pulkkinen re-direct on the power play at 8:32 of the second. Luke Nogard (PPG) and Ryan Galt scored 103 seconds apart late in the period to put UNO on top 4-3.
Nogard and David Pope – with his league-leading 20th goal – added empty-netters to seal the Omaha win.
“It's disappointing,” said UND sophomore defenseman Colton Poolman. “Obviously you want to manage the game a little better. Special teams…they made plays. We weren't particularly sharp, but give them credit – they were really clicking on the power play. That's a good power play over there.”
Each of Omaha's three power-play goals were of a different variety. Vesel's goal came nine seconds into a man advantage after a won faceoff in the North Dakota zone, his wrister from the left faceoff circle beating UND freshman Peter Thome (20 saves). Pulkkinen's goal came on a nifty direction in the slot, and Nogard's banked into the net off of UND defenseman Hayden Shaw after Thome had made the initial save.
But they don't ask, 'How,' as they old saying goes, they ask, 'How many' and North Dakota head coach Brad Berry said the Mavericks' red-hot power play nullified what he felt had been a strong effort from his team through 40 minutes.
“We had the game and momentum in our hands. We gave them opportunities on the power play. Coming in they were 30 percent at home and they showed why. They scored three goals on the power play and that was the difference in the game,” said Berry.
“We got a little extended on a couple of them,” continued Berry. “We gave up a couple shots when they had pretty good net-front. The one went off us into the net. That was a bounce. One of the kills we killed the majority of it, we just didn't finish it. We've got to look at it here again, make some adjustments and try to tighten it up.”
With his team now squarely on the bubble to make the 16-team NCAA Tournament, Berry and the Fighting Hawks hope to salvage a split Saturday night to allow themselves some breathing room in the national picture.
“If you're playing the right way and you're competing hard every shift, which our guys are, hopefully you can try to get a result. Right now it seems each game it's something a little different that's faltering a little bit,” said Berry.
He added: “I thought for the first 40 minutes, 5-on-5, we did a very good job. Power play did its job tonight, got a couple goals. Get to the third period and you start pressing a little bit. They did a good job of nailing it down.”
UND and Omaha square off at 7:07 p.m. on Saturday night at Baxter Arena.
Notes: UND finished the night with the edge in shots on goal (41-26), faceoffs (38-33) and shot attempts (62-46) … Galt, Nogard and Kawaguchi (1 goal, 1assist) were named the game's three stars … UND juniors Joel Janatuinen and Christian Wolanin each played in their 100th career game … UND used the same lineup it had used in last Saturday's win vs. Colorado College, the first time all season Berry was not forced to use a different lineup … Berry said injured junior forward Nick Jones was a possibly to return on Saturday ... UND's next win will be the program's 1,500th all-time.
