OMAHA, Neb. — There will be plenty on the line regarding the NCHC standings on the final day of the regular season.
With Omaha Hockey's 5-3 victory over Miami (Ohio) on Friday, the Mavericks have put themselves in position to clinch a postseason spot Saturday night at Baxter Arena.
Omaha broke a 2-2 tie early in the third period by scoring twice in a three-minute span on goals from
Brett Hyland and Jacob Guevin. After Miami scored with 37.5 seconds left, Omaha secured the win with
Jacob Slipec's empty-net goal with eight seconds remaining.
The win improves Omaha to 24 standings points, one point behind Miami. Omaha also moved into eighth place in the standings, passing Arizona State, which trailed at the time the Omaha-Miami game concluded Friday. Arizona State currently has 22 points in the NCHC standings.
Omaha (12-21, 8-15 NCHC) needed strong results this weekend against a Miami team that swept Omaha in Ohio last month by a combined score of 9-2. Miami (17-14-2, 8-13-2) put pressure on the Mavericks in Friday's opening minutes, and
Simon Latkoczy made four saves in the first three minutes.
Midway through the period, Omaha started to control play. The Mavericks had quality scoring chances turned away on a pair of power plays midway through the first before breaking through late in the period.
Slipec collected the puck at center ice and found a wide-open Cam Mitchell in front of the Miami goal. Mitchell beat Miami goalie Matteo Drobac with 1:44 left for his second goal of the season.
After outshooting Miami 11-7 in the first period, Omaha dominated the early portion of the second, taking the first 11 shots of the period. That was capped by a power-play goal as
Tyler Rollwagen tipped in a blast from Jeremy Loranger with 13:45 left in the second. It was Rollwagen's third goal in the past two games and seventh this season.
Omaha went on to outshoot Miami 17-4 in the second, but the RedHawks scored on a power play with 5:47 left to cut Omaha's lead to 2-1 heading into the third.
Miami tied it less than two minutes into the third period on Matteo Giampa's second goal of the night. But as momentum seemed to be slipping away from the Mavericks, they quickly regained it.
Less than three minutes after Miami scored, Hyland put Omaha back in front with his eighth goal of the season.
Three minutes after Hyland's goal, Guevin ripped a shot from the faceoff circle to make it 4-2 as Omaha scored its second power-play goal of the night.
Miami pulled its goalie with more than four minutes to play, and the RedHawks cut their deficit to 4-3 with 37.5 seconds left before Slipec iced the win.
Latkoczy made 21 saves, including 11 in the third period, for Omaha.
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