[Patrick Barron]
Friday, January 13, 2017
#9 Minnesota 5, Michigan 2
1st period
SHUART GOAL
Minn 0 Mich 1 EV 08:57 Assists: Allen & Winborg
The puck’s dumped in, and though that’s usually not a great way to generate offense it works here because Allen’s essentially dumping it to the corner to himself. Getting rid of the puck allows him to use his forward momentum against the back-skating, mid-turn defender without worrying about the puck being knocked away.
Winborg, who’s in the faceoff circle in the screencap above, gets into excellent position behind the net. He’s there to set a pick as Minnesota switches defenders, with the one in the bottom of the faceoff circle in the above screencap the man who’s picked off. Allen has the space behind the two to poke the puck ahead, skate through, and retrieve it.
Allen gets the puck and has a huge passing lane with which to work. Schierhorn’s got to whip his head from tracking behind the net to the side of the net to the high slot too quickly for him to do much about a shot attempt.
Minnesota’s forwards all collapse on net and watch behind the net, which allows Shuart a perfect and completely undefended chance. He puts the puck high on Schierhorn, who can do no more than flinch.
Pitlick Goal
Minn 1 Mich 1 EV 14:19 Assists: Sheehy
Shuart’s having himself a heck of a first few minutes by the time this happens; he’s already scored and now breaks into the zone and almost gets the shot he wants on net, but he ends up pulling it wide. He gets a second-chance attempt, but Schierhorn stops it.
Somehow that stop turns into the world’s longest and most conveniently-placed rebound, coming off Shierhorn’s pads and right onto Sheehy’s stick. It’s mind-boggling how well positioned the puck is; if Sheehy wasn’t cutting in like the direction he is then there’s a good chance Winborg takes picks it up. This is Michigan 2016-17 winter sports, though, so there’s no way that was gonna happen.
Sheehy passes up to Pitlick, and from there it’s just a footrace between Pitlick and Keving Lohan.
Pitlick wins. He squeezes the puck in short-side on what’s a pseudo-breakaway given the non-role the defenseman played. From what I’ve seen of Lohan this season, his positioning is good when given time and he seems to have good on-ice awareness, but his lack of speed has burned him over and over. Not a huge surprise that he was scratched for Saturday’s game.
Novak Goal
Minn 2 Mich 1 EV 16:29 Assists: Collins & Bristedt
Calderone gets the puck at the edge of the neutral zone and, seeing the defender directly in front of him, decides that the best move he has is to spin and backhand a pass to Dancs, who’s going to have plenty of room to skate if the pass is on target. If. It’s not, though. It turns into a neutral-zone turnover, and now Michigan has three skaters (one who’s out of the frame below but whom you can see in the GIF) who have to turn hard to get back in on the play as it goes the other direction.
Bristedt takes the stretch pass on the wing and doesn’t really have a great option. He does, however, have great edges. He has two defenders (circled below, of course) converging. He shakes the first one (edge of the faceoff circle) by slamming on the brakes.
Bristedt pulls the puck in just as Dancs arrives, which causes Dancs to miss his poke check. Bristedt now has the puck in front of Dancs’ back, which gives him an easy pass to the defenseman just inside the blue line.
Collins sees traffic in front of the net and slaps it on net hoping for a deflection. He gets one. Novak’s defended for a second, and then he’s not. Cecconi lifts Novak’s stick way up, and as Novak takes a step toward the middle of the crease his stick falls back to the ice. He lets it lag behind and it works perfectly. The puck hits the blade and ricochets up and over Nagelvoort, who has absolutely no chance on this puck.
Szmatula Goal
Minn 3 Mich 1 EV 19:58 Assists: Collins & Bristedt
Bristedt carries down the wing and is faced with something of a wall formed by Luke Martin and Dancs. He tries to sneak the puck through but has it blocked by Martin, who throws it back toward the blue line.
The problem is that it goes right to Collins, and with Dancs following Bristedt low there’s no one up high to pressure the defenseman. Collins takes his time and shoots. Might as well, since there are a ton of bodies in front of the net to bank it off of, a pretty bad chance Nagelvoort can see the puck, and a now-unchecked guy in the crease.
Collins’ shot gets through and is stopped, but the rebound goes to Nagelvoort’s right. That’s where the unchecked skater is. Let’s discuss him for a second. He’s right in front of Lohan. As the puck’s moving back to the blue line, Lohan’s even pointing out where help is needed on the weakside. Yet there’s this guy who’s right in front of him who takes a step behind him and it’s like object permanence ceases to exist. He just totally forgets about Szmatula and instead watches the puck move from wing to point. I know what I said above about his on-ice awareness, which is why this is even more baffling.
I feel bad for Nagelvoort here. No chance. Not. A. Chance.
2nd period
WARREN GOAL
Minn 3 Mich 2 SH 06:58 Assists: None
Shuart’s got the puck tied up in the corner. There’s not a good angle of this outside of the GIF, so for the sake of avoiding duplication here’s a nice closeup of the puck being tied up in the corner.
Minnesota wins the battle, but the puck’s been tied up long enough that Michigan can roll the dice a little and have extra attackers pressure despite being down a man. Warren reads the pass well, getting a jump on it and picking it off Bristedt.
Bristedt is trying desperately to backhand a pass anywhere when Warren extends and picks off the puck. The turnover is so egregious that Warren essentially has to do nothing more than push the puck in once it’s on his blade. That’s a great read and pressure from him.
Sheehy Goal
Minn 4 Mich 2 EV 18:01 Assists: Pitlick & Kloos
Minnesota breaks out of their zone and carries through the neutral zone unimpeded. The good news is that two Michigan skaters converge as Kloos enters the zone. Warren even knocks the puck away. This is going well!
The puck slides to the corner, where Cecconi carries Kloos. He’s bracing for the hit from Cecconi and can do no more than fling the puck behind the net. Meanwhile, Sheehy (circled below) is gliding through the zone with no one even remotely close to him. Warren’s hanging out on the boards just…I don’t know, hanging out. This is bad!
Pitlick gets behind the net without much in the way of obstruction; Pastujov gives a tap or two once he sees that there’s a guy cutting in and behind him, but he’d have to crush Pitlick (not something you expect from a winger) to prevent what happens next.
Sheehy gets two tries from directly in front of Nagelvoort. Meanwhile, Warren glides through toward the slot and just stares at what’s happening. Martin’s in front of the net but has the balance standing to the side so as not to screen Nagelvoort with getting into the shooting lane. That’s not to say Martin gets a free pass; he jumped to his right when he saw the pass behind the net not realizing that Pastujov was there, so he’s trying to make up ground on Sheehy from the drop. Two tries. Essentially unchecked. Unreal.
3rd period
Sheehy Goal
Minn 5 Mich 2 PPG 11:25 Assists: Bischoff & Novak
It’s a 5-on-3 kill for Michigan, so we pick up with Minnesota moving the puck around up high. No surprise there. Michigan’s content to allow those D-to-D passes so long as they can clog up the shooting lanes, and they’ve been doing a good job of that.
Bischoff passes back to Sheehy, who then starts skating to the middle of the ice. That’s where things get dicey. Sheehy executes exactly what he sets out to do: get between the two nearest Michigan defenders and use the netfront screen to take away any chance Nagelvoort might have at stopping the shot. Sheehy lifts the puck and hits the corner. I don’t know what to do but shrug. At least the guy in front of the net was being defended.
Saturday, January 14, 2017
#9 Minnesota 4, Michigan 2
1st period
Lettieri Goal
Minn 1 Mich 0 PPG 19:57 Assists: Bristedt & Johnson
Michigan has cleared the puck from their zone, forcing Schierhorn to gather and the skaters to regroup in Minnesota’s end of the ice. On the breakout attempt, the puck is hemmed in momentarily along the wall. There are two skaters providing support; Bristedt must decide whether he thinks he can somehow drop the puck back or whether he can force it ahead to the skater near center ice without creating a turnover.
What he does is, frankly, really smart. Bristedt sees Cutler Martin approaching and braces for the coming hit. Knowing this hit is coming also means understanding that Martin’s stick is going to come off the ice, which presents an opportunity to backhand the puck under the aforementioned raised stick to Lettieri.
There is nothing exceptional about this alignment. Lettieri’s defended well and just decides to put the puck on net and see what happens rather than try to skate in further and risk it being swatted away.
This is one that Lavigne has to be kicking himself over. It seems that Lavigne doesn’t expect the puck to be shot to the inside of the defender, and as it catches him by surprise he isn’t able to butterfly fast enough to shut the five hole. You can see the wide split in the screen cap below.
2nd period
Collins Goal
Minn 2 Mich 0 EV 19:17 Assists: Zuhlsdorf & Novak
This whole sequence is bizarre. Michigan’s spending forever in their defensive zone because they can’t buy a clear if they want, and the puck eventually is rimmed around to Lavigne’s left. From there it’s passed to the front of the net, where the prime scoring opportunity is squashed by Cecconi. Novak seems to just be trying to get his stick back on the ice when he chips the puck right to Zuhlsdorf.
Zuhlsdorf has a prime scoring opportunity: to the goaltender’s right off a scrum with no defender turned to face the puck. He completely fans on it and has to skate behind the net to regain possession. He then skates it out to the other side.
Zuhlsdorf passes to Collins, who’s ready for a one-timer. If he hadn’t been, you can see Sheehy to the far left of the frame also begging for a pass, in his case one that would have to be threaded through the crease. Still worth noting since this is a 5v5 opportunity.
Collins gets enough under the shot to lift it to the far-side top corner; it’s a blistering shot, so fast that you can see in the screen cap below that Collins is through his shooting motion as Lavigne’s in the middle stages of reacting.
3rd period
Lettieri Goal
Minn 3 Mich 0 PS 00:39
Michigan gets the puck stripped trying to enter their offensive zone. The puck bounces out to around center ice, with Lettieri the last guy in the zone and therefore the first to jump on the puck. Kile tries to get back and bearhugs and hooks Lettieri to prevent the clean breakaway.
The result is a Lettieri penalty shot. He skates in and doesn’t do much in the way of stickwork, but one doesn’t have to when their shot is this accurate. He picks a spot—far-side top corner—and hits it. Like, could-split-a-hair hits it.
Lavigne’s glove isn’t up and I drew a double arrow on there because the puck’s on its way out of the net.
MERL GOAL
Minn 3 Mich 1 EV 08:34 Assists: Warren
Schierhorn goes to play the puck behind his net and fumbles it. He regains control and flings it up the boards, but by this time Warren has sealed himself against the boards and intercepts the puck.
Warren takes a step forward but is met immediately by a defender. Merl was skating from low to high and continues to do so, positioning himself near the boards for a pass from Warren.
Merl one-times it. I haven’t found a conclusive replay angle; the puck either hits the inside of Schierhorn’s leg as he’s sweeping his leg pad back in or just beats him five-hole straight up.
ALLEN GOAL
Minn 3 Mich 2 EV 14:22 Assists: De Jong & Cecconi
Michigan wins the draw and the puck goes directly back to Cecconi. He sees a shooting lane and wastes no time taking the shot. It gets through, but Schierhorn stops it.
Not without a rebound, though. The puck bounces out to the area above the faceoff circle to De Jong’s left. He closes on it and gains possession.
De Jong’s already opened up his hips on his slap shot as he reaches the puck, quickly getting the puck to the front of the net. Allen cuts to the front off the draw and he’s rewarded for keeping his stick down and to the side. The puck is redirected, leaving Schierhorn with no chance at it.
Lettieri Goal
Minn 4 Mich 2 EN 19:37 Assists: Bristedt & Kloos
Minnesota wins the draw and, though it takes a diving player to knock the puck ahead, gains possession.
With only one Michigan skater back, a pass that sets up a trip through the middle of the neutral zone is as dangerous as it gets. That’s what happens here, as a Michigan defender closes just as the puck’s passed laterally to Lettieri.
At this point he just has to hope that he can lift the puck enough to avoid it being blocked, and he does that without issue.
Barron got an awesome shot of the outcome.
********
[Barron]
I don’t know. I don’t think I have anything new to add. I know that’s an admission I probably shouldn’t make but everything that stood out about this series is something I’ve said before. The penalty kill is actually pretty good, at least in terms of challenging puck movement. The goaltending is better than it has been in years. Every skater—it’s not just defensemen—looks lost when attempting to defend at even strength. The offense never really gets going because of the general difficulty passing and lack of speed. Every weekend is like an Apple press conference. Hey, we took this thing that’s basically the same but this time it doesn’t have a headphone jack! And the pictures aren’t perceptibly sharper but trust us, that lens is not the same as the one that’s on the phone you have in your pocket right now. Oh, we made the lens bigger and moved it a little so you’ll have to buy a new case even though the shell and the lens and screen and even the chip that’s purportedly faster all seem exactly like the last one you had. Here we are, back at the well series after series, waiting to see what miniscule detail is different this time around.
If there’s a bit of hope for change on offense it’s that Cooper Marody seems to have shaken most of the rust off and rounded into the form expected of him this season. He had four shot attempts on Friday (one off the team lead) and a team-high six on Saturday. Those attempts were all at even strength, which is all the more important for a team that’s struggled to generate anything when not up a man. Getting Will Lockwood and his 0.72 points per game back could help a bit, especially considering all three goaltenders ability to steal a game.
Any real change has to start with Michigan not taking penalties; to my eye they do a good job getting in lanes and pressuring up high but still gave up 26 PP shot attempts Friday. The Daily’s Orion Sang wrote a great feature about the state of the team and how they seem to be playing in search of a launch-pad series. The coming Michigan State series will tell a great deal; if Michigan is again woefully out-attempted by a team whose Corsi For % is a middling 49.2%, there’s vanishingly little hope that anything more than another camera adjustment or headphone jack adjustment will happen this season.
Notes:
I recommend reading David’s Friday and Saturday gamers in concert with this, as he’s got you covered in terms of addition period-by-period context. Then, even though you probably already read it, you should take in Brian’s column on the coaching situation and what happens when someone is the program.