Preview: It's playoff time in Grand Forks

Mar. 15—GRAND FORKS — When Miami coach Chris Bergeron watched video of his team's four games against UND, he had one big takeaway.

When the RedHawks took care of the puck, they were pretty good.

When they didn't, things snowballed in a hurry.

"They have such good players that if you give them that opportunity, they will take full advantage of it," Bergeron said. "They will create enough on their own, so our message to our boys is, 'Let's not give them things.'"

UND won all four regular-season matchups, but Bergeron liked how his team played in the series in Oxford, Ohio, in February.

The Fighting Hawks rallied from down two goals in the third period in the series opener, tied it with an extra-attacker goal and won it in overtime. In the series finale, Miami had the advantage in expected goals, but the Fighting Hawks used a 33-save performace from Ludvig Persson to win 4-1.

Miami was

missing two of its top-line players

that weekend, too.

"We thought we took care of the puck pretty good," Bergeron said. "We thought we might have played better the second night, from a process perspective, than the first night."

This weekend's games will be in Grand Forks, though.

UND has been excellent at home this season, going 17-4-1. It has lost once in regulation in 22 home games.

"That first segment to the first TV timeout on Friday is going to be key for us," Bergeron said. "This team knows how to play at home, knows how to win at home. We have to go in there on our toes, ready to play at 7 Central time, and not be chasing the game around, because we're not ready to play.

"In their building, things seem to happen pretty quick, so you have to manage those momentum swings and not let the game get out of control in those first (seven) minutes, which, unfortunately, we've seen before. Our guys will be prepared."

Bergeron said both teams know each other well and can prepare for the opponent's systems and special teams play.

He said it's harder to prepare for the skilled players like Jackson Blake, who are unpredictable on the ice.

"The creativity and skill and those kinds of things, you can only prepare (by telling your players), 'They're creative, they're really skilled and they have good players,'" Bergeron said. "What I love about their team is to go along with the skill is they're big on the back end and they'll fight for the ice. They'll fight you for it. I just love that.

"This isn't a soft, skill team. This is a hard-nosed, get-in-your-face, skill team. That's what makes them so great."

UND MIA

3.69 (8th) Off 2.24 (59th)

2.58 (19th) Def 3.62 (58th)

25.4 (11th) PP 13.8 (58th)

81.4 (23rd) PK 78.2 (42nd)

51.2 (25th) FO 46.6 (54th)

.901 (30th) SP .884 (59th)

National rank in parenthesis. Categories are offense (goals per game), defense (goals against per game), power play percentage, penalty kill percentage, faceoff percentage and team save percentage.

UND — D Bennett Zmolek questionable (lower body)

Miami — D Michael Feenstra out (upper body), F Frankie Carogioiello out (undisclosed), F William Hallen doubtful (undisclosed), F Ryan Sullivan questionable (undisclosed)

The 6-foot-2, 205-pound winger has been one of Miami's best scoring threats since he stepped on campus in 2020. He's hit double digits in goals for three-straight seasons and he's at a career high in points with 25. Barbolini is just a minus-2, despite Miami's minus-47 goal differential this season. He's also someone UND didn't have to see in January. Barbolini missed the series between the teams in Oxford, Ohio, with an injury. He's back now, though, playing left wing on the top line with center Raimonds Vitolins (who also missed the January series) and right wing P.J. Fletcher.

The Vancouver Canucks draft pick has played a major role in UND's power-play success as of late — even if he doesn't get the numbers or credit to show for it. Kunz's presence on the top of the crease has been the key component of so many of the man-advantage goals. But Kunz has been playing extremely well outside of that. Don't be surprised if he gets a goal to go from in tight, where he has that knack, or on a rush, where he can use his heavy shot.

Miami has not been able to find a way to get results this season, but its games have been more competitive than recent RedHawks teams. Miami has put scares into nearly every opponent for one game on a weekend. The RedHawks did it in the last meeting against UND. The Fighting Hawks needed an extra-attacker goal to tie it up late before winning in overtime. Miami was missing some of its star players that weekend and has them back now, so expect a big push from the RedHawks.

Friday: UND 5, Miami 2

Saturday: UND 3, Miami 2, OT

GFH:

Keaton Pehrson bringing his history of playoff success to UND

GFH:

Jake Brandt plans to step back from his Midco role after this season

GFH:

UND preparing to face a different-looking Miami team

GFH:

Analytics show how Jackson Blake is impacting UND in several ways

GFH:

An NIL collective to benefit UND athletes is coming

GFH:

UND lands six on NCHC all-conference teams

GFH:

Jaksen Panzer gets out of UND NLI, headed to Bemidji State

Podcast:

What to expect in UND's playoff series against Miami

Scoring

9 Jackson Blake (CAR), so, f, 19-33—52

14 Cameron Berg (NYI), jr, f, 20-15—35

22 Owen McLaughlin (PHI), so, f, 12-22—34

17 Riese Gaber, sr, f, 16-15—31

4 Jake Livanavage, fr, d, 3-22—25

7 Garrett Pyke, 5th, d, 3-21—24

27 Louis Jamernik V, sr, f, 8-9—17

26 Dylan James (DET), so, f, 8-9—17

18 Jayden Perron (CAR), fr, f, 11-5—16

28 Hunter Johannes, 5th, f, 9-7—16

29 Jackson Kunz (VAN), jr, f, 6-7—13

6 Logan Britt, 5th, d, 6-6—12

21 Ben Strinden (NSH), so, f, 5-5—10

25 Abram Wiebe (VGK), fr, d, 1-7—8

8 Jake Schmaltz (BOS), jr, f, 0-8—8

11 Griffin Ness, sr, f, 3-3—6

20 Keaton Pehrson, 5th, d, 0-6—6

2 Bennett Zmolek, so, d, 0-6—6

13 Carson Albrecht, sr, f, 2-1—3

32 Ludvig Persson, sr, g, 0-3—3

5 Dane Montgomery, so, f, 1-1—2

15 Nate Benoit (MIN), fr, d, 0-1—1

10 Tanner Komzak, fr, d, 0-0—0

30 Hobie Hedquist, fr, g, 0-0—0

1 Kaleb Johnson, so, g, dnp

Goaltending

32 Ludvig Persson, sr, 21-10-2, 2.47, .906

30 Hobie Hedquist, fr, 3-0, 2.65, .890

1 Kaleb Johnson, so, dnp

Scoring

29 Matthew Barbolini, sr, f, 11-14—25

8 P.J. Fletcher, sr, f, 11-12—23

17 John Waldron, so, f, 9-13—22

6 Raimonds Vitolins, jr, f, 6-11—17

11 William Hallen, so, f, 3-7—10

3 Axel Kumlin, so, d, 2-8—10

9 Albin Nilsson, 5th, f, 4-5—9

13 Max Dukovac, so, f, 3-6—9

27 Dylan Moulton, sr, d, 6-2—8

22 Ryan Sullivan, sr, f, 4-4—8

25 Artur Turansky, so, f, 3-5—8

5 Jack Clement, 5th, d, 1-7—8

16 Hampus Rydqvist, sr, d, 1-7—8

2 Spencer Cox, jr, d, 1-7—8

19 Rihards Simanovics, fr, d, 0-7—7

14 Thomas Daskas, sr, f, 3-3—6

10 Zane Demsey, so, d, 1-3—4

4 Michael Feenstra, so, d, 0-4—4

26 Blake Mesenburg, so, f, 2-1—3

7 Robby Drazner, sr, d, 2-1—3

18 Frankie Carogioiello, so, f, 2-0—2

28 Tanyon Bajzer, fr, f, 0-2—2

23 Brayden Morrison, jr, f, 0-1—1

31 Logan Neaton (WPG), 5th, g, 0-0—0

30 Bruno Bruveris, fr, g, 0-0—0

33 Carter McPhail, 5th, g, 0-0—0

Goaltending

31 Logan Neaton (WPG), 5th, 6-12-2, 2.96, .903

30 Bruno Bruveris, fr, 1-12-1, 4.15, .866

33 Carter McPhail, 5th, 0-0-0, 4.71, .885

Top 10

21:10 Garrett Pyke, D

20:15 Logan Britt, D

20:11 Bennett Zmolek, D

19:16 Cameron Berg, F

19:07 Jake Livanavage, D

18:44 Jackson Blake, F

17:58 Abram Wiebe, D

17:52 Riese Gaber, F

17:28 Keaton Pehrson, D

16:56 Owen McLaughlin, F

Top 10

21:59 John Waldron, F

21:50 Matthew Barbolini, F

20:59 P.J. Fletcher, F

19:39 Axel Kumlin, D

18:36 Hampus Rydqvist, D

18:06 Raimonds Vitolins, F

17:21 William Hallen, F

17:10 Michael Feenstra, D

16:44 Jack Clement, D

16:18 Max Dukovac, F