An early lead. A comeback by the opponent. A final, heroic third-period goal.

It’s becoming a theme for the Michigan hockey team.

And it happened again last night.

Senior Tim Miller broke a 3-3 tie with 6:22 remaining in the third period, scoring a tip in goal off a long pass from the point by sophomore Aaron Palushaj.

The goal was enough to lift No. 8 Michigan (5-2, 2-1 CCHA) to its second conference victory. Ohio State (2-4-1 overall, 1-3-1-1 CCHA) has played the Wolverines tough in its last several meetings, all ending in close one-goal games.

Michigan started the game showing a little of the residue from its 7-2 loss at Boston University last week, but senior goaltender Billy Sauer showed that he had overcome his four-goal shelling in Boston, by keeping the Wolverines in the game early.

After giving up a rebound in front of the goal, Sauer saved a point-blank opportunity by Ohio State in front of the crease to keep the game scoreless.

The game settled down midway through the period when Ohio State’s captain Peter Boyd received a five-minute major penalty and game misconduct for checking Miller from behind.

The Wolverines capitalized on the opportunity when midway through the power play. Miller got the puck in front of the crease, but wasn’t able to control it. He then passed it to sophomore Louie Caporusso who was stationed to the left of Ohio State goaltender Dustin Carlson and shot the puck into the open net with the netminder out of position.

After taking the lead, Sauer made two key saves after the goal to keep Michigan in front. Just after the penalty expired, the Wolverines turned over the puck to give the Buckeyes an odd man rush.

But Sauer shut down the opportunity from the streaking Ohio State players to keep the Wolverines in front.

Both teams played a physical period and several fights nearly broke out in front of both goals.

Both teams opened up their play in the second period, but Ohio State dominated time of possession. The Buckeyes scored two of their three goals in the period during long shifts in the offensive zone, playing against a tired group of Wolverines.

One of the Ohio State goals was an easy pass from the point down low to the right of Sauer that was easily tapped in, and the other two goals were scored on broken plays when Sauer was sprawling on the ground.

When Michigan did get its chances though, it capitalized. After clearing the defensive zone, Caporusso passed the puck to senior Brandon Naurato who was fresh off the bench. The senior flicked a wrist shot to the top-right of Dustin Carlson to give Michigan a 2-0 lead at the time.

After Ohio State scored a goal, Aaron Palushaj made Carlson pay. The Buckeye goaltender came out of his net to play a puck, but Palushaj beat him to it and scored a wrap-around goal into an empty net.

Though Michigan had a 3-1 lead at the time, Ohio State kept pressuring the Wolverine defense, wearing them out to tie the game by intermission.