(UND Athletics/Mark Kuhlmann)
OMAHA, Neb. (UND Athletics)– No. 16/17 Omaha built a 3-0 lead early in the second period and never looked back to complete a weekend sweep over No. 3 North Dakota, 4-1, on Saturday night from Baxter Arena in Omaha, Neb.
UND (24-10-2, 15-8-1 NCHC) will enter the NCHC Quarterfinals as the No. 1 seed and will host Miami in the best-of-three opening round. The Fighting Hawks also remained at No. 3 in the Pairwise Rankings at the conclusion of the weekend, placing them in position to earn a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Jayden Perron scored the lone goal of the evening for NoDak, sniping home his 11th of the season on a great feed from Jackson Blake during a 5-on-3 power play to give the sophomore his 52nd point of the season and 94th of his career.
Omaha’s Seth Eisele, who made the unexpected start due to a late scratch to Simon Latkoczy, put together a strong performance with 38 saves on 39 shots against to give the Mavericks their first sweep over North Dakota in program history.
The Mavericks jumped out to an early lead, striking at the tail end of a power play just under four minutes into the contest before extending the advantage to 2-0 with a goal in the final two minutes of the stanza.
UND started to carry the play in the second period, but Omaha extended its lead to 3-0 just 79 seconds into the frame on a shot through traffic. Perron trimmed the advantage to 3-1 with a rocket on the power play, but UND could not cut into the lead any further despite holding a 16-8 shot advantage in the second.
NoDak kept up the pressure in the final 20 minutes, but Omaha sealed the 4-1 victory with an empty netter to put the finishing touches on a weekend sweep.
North Dakota will open the NCHC Quarterfinals against Miami on Friday night at 7:07 p.m. from Ralph Engelstad Arena.
Postgame Notes
- UND remains at No. 3 in the Pairwise Rankings after the weekend of play
- Omaha records its first sweep over North Dakota in program history
- The Fighting Hawks close the regular season with a 24-10-2 overall record and 15-8-1 mark in NCHC play
- Jackson Blake recorded an assist to extend his point streak to seven games
- Blake finishes the regular season with 52 overall points and 37 in conference play, an NCHC record
- Jayden Perron scored his 11th goal of the season and third on the power play
- Perron has four points in his last seven games
- UND went 1-for-3 on the power play while Omaha went 1-for-2
- The power play goal by the Mavs was the first allowed by UND since Feb. 16 at CC (14 straight kills)
- Jake Livanavage recorded an assist to give him 22 points in the last 24 games
- Ludvig Persson finished with 21 saves on 24 shots against
- UND blocked eight shots, with Keaton Pehrson leading with two
- Omaha finished with a 30-21 faceoff advantage, with Louis Jamernik V pacing UND at 10-8
How It Happened
First Period
03:52 | UNO – Zach Urdahl buries a rebound on the power play to give Omaha a 1-0 lead
18:16 | UNO – Matt Miller increases the lead to 2-0 on a shot off the boards and in
Second Period
01:19 | UNO – Kirby Proctor fires a shot through traffic to make it 3-0 Omaha
03:19 | UND – Jayden Perron gets UND on the board with a power play goal
Third Period
18:02 | UNO – Nolan Sullivan hits the empty net to seal the 4-1 win
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