UND Athletics Jackson Blake
OXFORD, Ohio (UND Athletics) – Jackson Blake struck 1:24 into 3-on-3 overtime to complete a two-goal comeback and seal a 5-4 victory for No. 2 North Dakota over Miami on Friday night from Steve Cady Arena in Oxford, Ohio.
UND (19-6-2, 10-4-1 NCHC) trailed by a pair of goals entering the final 20 minutes for only the third time all season but third period goals by Logan Britt (3) and Riese Gaber (14) brought the game level before Blake finished off a 2-on-1 rush with a snipe off the back post to seal the extra point in the NCHC standings for the visitors.
Blake was once again dynamic in the victory, striking for a goal and two assists to notch his NCHC-leading seventh game this season with at least three points and extended his point streak to nine games. The sophomore has also torched the RedHawks (7-16-2, 1-13-1 NCHC) in his career and now has 15 points in seven contests against Miami.
Gaber followed step-for-step with Blake tonight on the offensive side, also recording a trio of points with a goal and two helpers. The senior now has 13 career goals and nine career assists in 12 games against the RedHawks.
Junior forward Jackson Kunz continued his strong play from last weekend, striking for his fourth goal of the season and notching the primary assist on Gaber’s tying goal for his first-career game with multiple points. Cameron Berg saw his goal streak come to an end at five games, but extended his point streak to six with a pair of assists in the win to give the junior 11 points over the last nine games.
Senior goaltender Ludvig Persson had to battle in his first visit back to Miami, but finished with 27 saves on 31 shots, including a perfect 10-for-10 in the third period and overtime, to help the Fighting Hawks mount the comeback win. The Swede also tallied his second assist of the season and second of his career on Blake’s overtime winner.
For the second straight game, NoDak fell into an early hole as Miami took a 1-0 lead near the midway point of the first period on a rebound goal from Thomas Daskas to give the hosts the advantage. Late in the stanza, however, UND knotted the contest at 1-1 when Jake Livanavage snapped a shot through a perfect Kunz screen on the power play for his third goal of the year and 15th point over his last 15 games.
UND carried that momentum into the second period, as Kunz quickly made it 2-1 for the visitors just 24 seconds into the frame. The junior collected a loose puck in the crease after Berg’s shot rang off the crossbar and pounded it into the back of the net for his fourth tuck of the season and goals in back-to-back games.
The rest of the middle frame belonged to the RedHawks, striking for a trio of goals to turn the 2-1 UND lead into a 4-2 Miami advantage after 40 minutes.
Trailing heading into the third for only the sixth time all year, UND came with a strong push to start the stanza before Britt eventually trimmed the deficit to 4-3 on a great feed from Louis Jamernik V to give the graduate student his third goal of the season and first tally since Nov. 10 at Minnesota Duluth with just over 11 minutes to play.
With UND down goal late in the third, Kunz laid a puck in the crease where Gaber was able to somehow muscle it across the line to tie the game at 4-4 with 59.7 to play in regulation. NoDak nearly won the game moments later on great looks from Berg and Gaber, but each team earned a point as the game went into OT.
In the extra session, Persson made his best stop of the night on a one timer from the slot before Blake was able to collect the loose puck, go coast-to-coast and snap his third overtime winner of the season past the goaltender to give UND a 5-4 victory.
North Dakota will look for the series sweep on Saturday night at 6:05 p.m. (CT) from Oxford. Fans can watch the game on NCHC.tv or listen on the Home of Economy Radio Network.
Postgame Notes
- UND improves to 28-8-1 all-time against Miami and 11-4-2 in Oxford
- The win was the third in OT this season, all coming via Jackson Blake
- NoDak is now 3-4-2 this season in the 3-on-3 overtime
- Blake recorded three points for the seventh time this season, the most by any player in the NCHC
- The sophomore now has 38 points this season, becoming the first UND player since 2006-07 to have at least 35 points in their first two seasons
- UND has now gone 20 straight games without a regulation loss, sitting just one shy of tying the program record
- Brad Berry notched his 199th victory of his career
- Blake now has points in nine straight games, with six goals and nine assists over that span
- Berg dished out a pair of assists to extend his point streak to six straight (5-4-9)
- Jake Livanavage has points in six straight games and 15 points over his last 15 games
- NoDak improves to 3-1-2 this season when trailing after two
- Louis Jamernik V has at least one point in every NCHC series this season
- UND finished 1-for-4 on the power play while Miami was 0-for-1
- Blake, Gaber and Miami’s Ryan Sullivan were named the game’s three stars, in that order
- Jackson Kunz recorded his first multi-point game of his career, notching a goal and an assist
- Miami finished with 28 blocked shots while UND had just eight
- The RedHawks held a 33-24 faceoff advantage
How It Happened
First Period
09:45 | MU – Thomas Daskas opens the scoring on a rebound goal to give Miami a 1-0 lead
19:14 | UND – Jake Livanavage wires home a power play goal to knot the contest at 1-1
Second Period
00:24 | UND – Jackson Kunz gives UND the 2-1 lead on a rebound goal of his own after a Berg crossbar
01:08 | MU – Ryan Sullivan quickly ties the game back up with a shot that sneaks through Persson
03:13 | MU – Albin Nilsson restores the Miami lead
13:28 | MU – John Waldron scores on a shorthanded breakaway to extend the Miami advantage to 4-2
Third Period
08:41 | UND – Logan Britt cuts through traffic and snaps home his third of the year to cut the deficit to 4-3
19:01 | UND – Riese Gaber ties the game at 4-4 on a scramble in front of the net
Overtime
01:24 | UND – Jackson Blake snipes one off the back bar to give UND a 5-4 win in overtime
Comments