GILLING PUSHES NO. 7 BULLDOGS TO 4-1 VICTORY OVER MIAMI
Casey Gilling’s third-period game-winning goal pushed the No. 7 Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs to a 4-1 win over the Miami RedHawks on Friday evening in Duluth. On the night, Gilling tallied a goal and an assist against his former team to help the Bulldogs to their 12th victory of the season.
Blake Biondi, Koby Bender, and Quinn Olson also found the back of the net for the Bulldogs on this night. Additionally, Darian Gotz, Owen Gallatin, Connor Kelley, and Dominic James all registered an assist. Ryan Fanti got the call for UMD and made 21 saves for his 11th win of the season. The victory moves Minnesota Duluth to 12-8-1 on the year and 5-3-1 in NCHC play.
“We were just waiting for something to happen and we got that with Blake and I thought we played two pretty good periods from that point on, said Head Coach Scott Sandelin. “I thought Casey was good tonight. It was nice to see him score. It was a great play by Kobe to to feed him, but a great finish by Casey.”
Neither side could find the back of the net through the first period. The Bulldogs carried the play and would outshoot the RedHawks 8-6 after 20 minutes. The only penalty of the first period was accessed to Wyatt Kaiser for tripping just six minutes in. Miami threw four shots at Fanti during the man-advantage but would come up empty on the power play opportunity. A few minutes later, while in his own zone, Darian Gotz flicked a pass to open space in the neutral zone. Jesse Jacques scooped up the puck and had a 2-on-1 opportunity with Koby Bender. Jacques fed a beautiful backhand pass to Bender on the backdoor, but a great sliding save from Ludvig Persson would keep the game leveled at 0-0 heading to the second period.
Like the first period, the Bulldogs would outshoot the RedHawks 13-8 in the middle frame. Bulldogs’ sophomore forward Biondi would get two quality chances in the period. Twelve minutes into the period, UMD found themselves with a 3-on-1 opportunity. After taking a drop pass from Dominic James, Olson passed up a chance to shoot and made a backdoor saucer pass to Biondi. Biondi tried to tap the puck into an open net but was denied by a pair of Miami defenders. A few minutes later, Olson cut through the zone and found Gotz moving towards the RedHawks net. Gotz faked a shot and made a beautiful pass to Biondi on the side of the Miami net. Biondi deflected the pass top corner to give the Bulldogs the 1-0 advantage. UMD took the 1-0 lead and a 21-14 shot advantage to the third period.
The gates opened in the third period and the Bulldogs took control. Just over two minutes into the final frame, Gilling took a slick pass from Roth and beat Persson high blocker side to extend UMD’s lead to 2-0. Despite the two-goal deficit, the RedHawks wasted no time answering the Gilling tally. Just two minutes later, Red Savage banged home his own rebound to cut the Bulldogs lead to one. A power play goal from Bender and a 2-on-1 marker from Olson would solidify a 4-1 Minnesota Duluth victory in game one.
Up Next
Game two of the series is scheduled for Saturday evening in Duluth. Puck drop is set for 7:07 PM from AMSOIL Arena.
