Two steps forward, one step back.
After strengthening their position in the Big Ten standings with a two-game sweep of Michigan State over the past weekend, Michigan missed a golden opportunity to further boost their conference hopes Tuesday night with a 5-2 loss to No. 15 Notre Dame in South Bend.
Notre Dame took advantage early in the contest with a pair of special teams plays that put the Wolverines behind the eight ball right out of the gate.
Michigan junior forward Will Lockwood’s interference penalty only 27 seconds into the first period led to a Dylan Malmquist goal for the Irish. Later in the first stanza, the Irish converted on a shorthanded breakaway to extend their lead to 2-0 after 20 minutes.
Lockwood gave Michigan hope early in the second period with an unassisted effort to pull the Wolverines within one goal at 2-1.
However, Notre Dame responded only 50 seconds after the Lockwood goal with two scores of their own within a 35-second span to squash any momentum Michigan may have gained.
Wolverine freshman forward Garrett Van Whye scored shorthanded himself at 15:49 of the third period to give U-M a glimmer of hope. But Notre Dame again answered immediately, scoring only 25 seconds later with a power-play goal to re-establish their three-goal margin, one of four power plays the Irish had in the final period.
“Disappointed,” Michigan head coach Mel Pearson briefly started of the Wolverine’s road performance. “Just how things unraveled in the third period. We lost our composure. We lost our discipline. We can’t do that. Things aren’t going to go your way every night. You’re going to have some adversity.”
Pearson replaced starting junior goaltender Hayden Lavigne with freshman netminder Strauss Mann after two periods. The pair allowed five goals on 30 shots.
“Their goals went in, I’ll say, easy,” Pearson said. “We worked hard to try and get our goals and they [Notre Dame] came down and take a couple long shots, seeing eye shots, that found their way into the net. It just wasn’t our night.
“You need your goalie to step up and make a save. We left [Lavigne] in after it was 2-0. [He gave up] two goals on four shots, one was a breakaway and one was a power play. He made some good saves at the start of the second period to give us a chance and we got it to 2-1. They had a couple goals that are not on him; one was on a screen and one went off somebody. They just went in easy.”
Quote Of The Game
“You’re going to need that goaltending. You can’t give up four goals in a period-and-a-half and expect to win on the road.” — Michigan head coach Mel Pearson
Up Next
Michigan is idle this weekend, giving them nine days to prepare for a two-game visit to Yost Ice Arena from second-ranked and conference-leading Ohio State on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 22-23.
This Weekend's Big Ten Hockey Action
No. 17 Penn State at Michigan State (Fri./Sat.)
Minnesota at No. 2 Ohio State (Fri./Sat.)
Wisconsin at No. 15 Notre Dame (Fri./Sat.)
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