For a team that has struggled on the power play during the second half of the season, the University of Minnesota Duluth used the man advantage to its advantage Friday night.

The Bulldogs, who came into the weekend sporting the National Collegiate Hockey Conference's least efficient power play, scored twice while a man up against the league's top penalty killing club, Miami University, and pulled out a 3-1 victory in Oxford, Ohio. The two nationally-ranked teams went into the second intermission deadlocked at 1-1 before No. 7 UMD proceeded to outshoot the No. 6 RedHawks 16-8 in the final 20 minutes, getting goals from a pair of juniors -- center Tony Cameranesi (power play) and defenseman Willie Corrin.  The Bulldogs, who lead the NCHC in road wins (they are 11-6-0 away from AMSOIL Arena this season), improved to 19-11-1 overall and 11-7-1-0 in league play -- one point back of second-place Miami (18-10-1; 11-7-1-1) and the University of Nebraska-Omaha.

UMD never trailed the entire night and took its first lead of the game at 7:12 of the first period when a sliding Matthew Caito of Miami knocked the puck into his own net, a power play goal that was credited to UMD senior right winger Justin Crandall -- his 10th of the season. The RedHawks took just 50 seconds to respond with Blake Coleman finishing off an odd-man rush and beating UMD rookie netminder Kasimir Kaskisuo from the low slot. Cameranesi broke the tie 2:47 into the third by banging in a loose puck off a scramble out front for his eighth goal of the year and with 4:29 to go,  Corrin closed out the scoring, wristing a shot from the left faceoff circle. Corrin now has two career goals as a Bulldog with both coming in the past five games.

Miami, which had its five-game unbeaten streak (4-0-1) terminated, went 0-for-4 on the power play while UMD cashed in on two of its four chances. The Bulldogs has scored just seven times in their last 61 man advantage opportunities prior to coming to Oxford. Kaskisuo, who has patrolled the UMD net for its entire NCHC schedule thus far, finished with 30 saves while helping UMD keep its perfect lifetime record at Steve Cady Arena intact (3-0)

UMD and Miami will meet again Saturday night at 6:05 p.m. (CT)

Notes: Rookie center Jared Thomas assisted on Cameranesi's goal to extend his scoring streak to five games, tops among all Bulldogs at the moment ... UMD will go for its sixth lifetime NCHC sweep Saturday night. Four of the Bulldogs' five previous sweeps have been registered on the road, including one last year at Miami ...  With injuries to both Dominic Toninato and Blake Young leaving UMD with just 11 healthy forwards, freshman Nick McCormack was moved from defense to left wing on the Bulldogs fourth line ... Justin Crandall became the second Bulldog to hit double digits for goals. The alternate team captain has scored at least once in three of the past four games ... UMD is 10-3-0 this year when it has held the opposition scoreless on the power play .... all 18 Bulldog skaters finished even in the plus-minus department Friday ... The Bulldogs have compiled a 14-8-0 record against nationally-ranked clubs in 2014-15 ... Tony Cameranesi and sophomore left winger Alex Iafallo currently share the UMD scoring lead with 23 points each.