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ST. CLOUD, Minn. — Forget the fact that St. Cloud State goalie Charlie Lindgren already has four shutouts in just six starts. The Huskies hardly needed him Friday night, as they dominated the Miami RedHawks in all categories in a huge bounce-back performance after a bad series against Quinnipiac last weekend.
Lindgren made 15 saves to add to his nation-leading shutout total, and Patrick Newell scored twice to help lead St. Cloud State to a 3-0 victory over Miami Friday night at the National Hockey Center in the NCHC opener for both teams.
“Charlie was solid, our defensive core was solid, our forwards were solid,” said St. Cloud coach Bob Motzko. “It was a solid game for three periods for it.”
Ryan Papa also lit the lamp for the Huskies, who dominated the game more than the final score suggests. Miami was overmatched from start to finish in suffering its second consecutive loss. It was also the first shutout loss for the RedHawks since March 1, 2014.
After a bit of a slow start on both sides, St. Cloud started to pick it up and eventually drew first blood 8:43 in. The Huskies pounded RedHawks goaltender Ryan McKay (37 saves) after sustaining their first good forecheck, and eventually a David Morley rebound went to the right side of the net, where Newell was waiting to bury it behind McKay for his first collegiate goal. It was the only goal of a period in which the Huskies outshot Miami, 17-4.
Just 1:51 into the second period, Papa scored his first goal for St. Cloud since the 2013-14 season on a one-time feed from Mikey Eyssimont.
“It felt good to get it out of the way this early in the season,” said Papa. “It felt good to get the monkey off my back.”
After the goal, things only got worse for Miami. The RedHawks were unable to get a forecheck going all period long thanks to the relentless Huskies defense, and only managed five more shots. They were lucky to be only down two goals after two periods; they were outshot 28-9 in that duration.
The Huskies put an exclamation mark on their dominant performance with Newell’s second goal with 6:17 left in the final period.
“It was really nice,” Newell said of his first two goals. “I was getting a little nervous.”
St. Cloud State ended up outshooting Miami 40-15 for the night.
The two teams will conclude their NCHC series tomorrow night at the National Hockey Center at 7:07 CST.
