No. 8-ranked Minnesota Duluth rallied from a 2-0 second intermission deficit by scoring three unanswered third-period goals in a 3-2 NCHC victory over No. 13 Nebraska-Omaha at the CenturyLink Center in Omaha.
Here are my thumbs up and thumbs down from the game, followed by my three stars from the game.
Thumbs up to the Bulldogs third period dominance
History has not been on the Bulldogs side in the third period for over a decade now. Prior to Friday night’s rally, UMD was 0-43-3 when trailing after two periods. UMD last rallied from a second-intermission deficit on Nov. 10, 2010 against Michigan Tech. That night, the Bulldogs were down 2-1 and needed four third-period goals to win 5-3. The last time UMD rallied from a 2-0 second-intermission deficit was Jan. 11, 2008 against Minnesota State (Thanks to Bruce Ciskie for that stat).
The skid was bound to end this year with UMD outscoring opponents 14-6 in the third period going into the weekend (17-6 now), but it sure didn’t look like the 46-game run was ending tonight with 11 minutes to play. The Bulldogs were fast asleep.
But an odd goal appeared to wake the Bulldogs up as freshman wing Karson Kuhlman flipped a puck over the shoulder of UNO senior goaltender Ryan Massa. UMD junior defenseman Andy Welinski said it caught everyone in the stands, on the ice and even on the Bulldogs bench by surprise because no one knew it initially went in the net.
“Karson’s goal, I don’t think anybody in the whole building cheered,” Welinski said. “Nobody knew it went in. It was a weird play, but it made an impact. Guys were still kind of sitting on the bench and then realized the puck was in the net and everybody was up.”
Thumbs down to the Bulldogs power play
It’s tough to call the first period a slow start for UMD because it outshot UNO 12-6, unless you’re talking about the power play.
Nothing started slower than the Bulldogs’ power play.
UMD had two power plays in the first period including one 3:43 into the game. UMD only generated one shot on goal during the two chances. On the other end, the Mavericks came out firing on their first chance in the second, scoring a split second after the first UMD penalty expired.
(Note: The final stats won’t count UNO’s first goal as a power play goal, but most coaches will since the guy in the box had yet to rejoin the play.)
The Bulldogs got a third chance early in the third period that was just as uneventful as the first two chances. UMD’s fourth power play didn’t result in a goal, but it did what it was supposed to do with the Bulldogs up a goal: it drained the clock and prevented UNO from pulling its goaltender until after the penalty expired.
You’re not going to score on every power play, no one does. But UMD has to show more life on the advantage than it did tonight.
“We didn’t score on the two power plays, they did,” UMD coach Scott Sandelin said. “They won the special teams game. Sometimes that’s what it is going to come down to and that’s what I thought it was going to come down to, but we had one more period and we got it going.”
Matt’s Three Stars