[Marc-Gregor Campredon]
Friday, February 23, 2018
#13 Michigan 5, Arizona State 3
1st period
Walker goal
UM 0 ASU 1 EV 00:51 Assists: Gruber
A Michigan skater is trying to start the breakout from their defensive zone and I don’t know whether he misreads what’s up-ice or just flubs the pass, but he ends up turning the puck over. Gruber picks it off in the neutral zone and skates it in.
Gruber is understandably under a lot of pressure as soon as he enters the zone since this is a quick offense-defense transition off a breakout. Luke Martin lifts his stick off the ice a bit, and it’s just enough for Gruber to get the pass off. The pass then happens to go under Norris’ stick and arrives on a line for Walker.
Walker rips a wrist shot and beats Lavigne…over the glove? I mean, probably over the glove. That’s what it looks like, and that’s what Lavigne’s body language indicates what with the raised shoulder, but I honestly haven’t been able to slow it down with enough clarity to make the call. Either way, it’s a dubious start for Lavigne.
[After THE JUMP: far less dubious stuff]
SANCHEZ GOAL
UM 1 ASU 1 EV 4:07 Assists: Marody & Boka
It’s a miracle that this play ever developed, but credit goes to Marody for dangling an ASU skater who’s using a stick that looks like it belongs to one of the Praetorian Guards from Star Wars.
Marody enters the zone and takes it down the wing. It looks like he’s going to skate to the front of the net, but then he turns his hips back toward the end boards.
Marody may have turned his hips, but he’s been looking to his left most of the time this has unfolded. He sees a pass he wants, and he displays some insane reach by keeping the puck out and protected by his body and then wrapping it around the outstretched stick of the defender. Marody’s cross-ice feed hits Sanchez.
Sanchez just has to keep his stick on the ice and provide a little lift to get the puck into the open half of the net in front of him.
SANCHEZ GOAL
UM 2 ASU 1 EV 7:11 Assists: Norris & Slaker
Sanchez has the puck and is looking to pass to the point when he gets tied up and eventually loses control of it. Slaker skates by and picks up the puck as Sanchez is being shoved into the glass.
As Slaker skates toward the point, a new defender emerges: the guy who just checked Sanchez into the boards. He peels off Sanchez and tracks the puck, so Sanchez just makes a bee line for the front of the net.
Slaker gets to the point and just heaves a shot on net. Daccord stops the shot but allows a big rebound to his left.
Sanchez is in perfect position to corral the rebound thanks to his defender going AWOL, and he gets it on his backhand. Sanchez then pulls it forehand and jams it past Daccord’s outstretched glove.
M. PASTUJOV GOAL
UM 3 ASU 1 EV 14:37 Assists: Becker & N. Pastujov
Nick Pastujov wins a board battle near the corner and moves the puck ahead for Michael Pastujov, who taps it ahead for Becker. Becker basically turns 90 degrees on a pivot foot and skates through an ASU skater’s stick.
Becker and Pastujov switch as they enter the offensive zone, with Pastujov widening to stay behind the blue line as Becker carries in.
Becker avoids the sweep of the defenseman’s stick and manages to retain possession by slipping the puck under the defender’s stick and picking it up himself on the other side. This gives Becker the upper hand, as the defenseman now has to turn to try to close the gap.
Becker carries to the net relatively unimpeded. He lifts a shot high from the edge of the crease, and the shot quickly becomes a rebound as it bounces off Daccord.
Pastujov weaved wide but cut back to the middle of the zone, which pays off here. He was a step behind Balinson, the nearest ASU defender, the entire play. Balinson decides that holding his stick parallel to the ice is enough to obstruct Pastujov. It isn’t. Pastujov sees the loose puck off the rebound and pushes it in as Daccord lifts and extends his left leg pad.
2nd period
CECCONI GOAL
UM 4 ASU 1 EV 6:36 Assists: Warren & Hughes
Hughes does the Very Hughes Thing and carries the puck in himself, bringing a flock of defenders along with him. He skates around all of them, looping behind the net and out the other side. He skates through the faceoff circle before turning and shooting. I can’t tell whether the puck misses the net or is saved and pushed aside by Daccord, but the result is the same: a loose puck behind the net.
Warren goes behind the net and gets the puck. He sees an incredibly easy pass as he emerges on the other side, as the nearest defender to Cecconi tried to finish his check on Hughes as Cecconi pinched.
Winborg’s doing a really nice job of being a pain in the butt, parking said butt in front of the goalie and getting twisted by one defender, then cross-checked by another as the shot is headed his way. Cecconi one-times a laser that hits the far-side top corner.
Hough is in the faceoff circle when Hughes shoots and, for some reason, to his goaltender’s right when Cecconi is shooting. Hough would have been close enough to likely get in Cecconi’s lane had he stayed in his position as the top left corner of ASU’s box, but he freelances, covers no one, and ends up looping back around to the slot.
Walker goal
UM 4 ASU 2 PPG 18:35 Assists: Pasichnu & Gruber
This starts off with some pretty basic movement from an umbrella power play. Cecconi steps out on Gruber, so he swings it up to Pasichnu.
Michigan elects to have both high skaters stay stationed at the top of the faceoff circle, so Pasichnu swings the puck to Walker at the opposite point. Meanwhile, the netfront presence element of the umbrella is causing a headache for Lavigne. He’s screened well, and it’s made easier because Hughes is shaded toward the slot skater instead of the netfront player.
Walker just unloads on the one-timer. Like, stick-over-the-head unloads. Lavigne sees the shot but not fast enough. It’s through his legs as he’s getting into his butterfly and stretching the twine by the time he hits the ice.
3rd period
Gruber goal
UM 4 ASU 3 PPG 17:57 Assists: Norris & Balinson
Another power play, another point shot. Michigan pressures laterally but the puck swings up to the point and Balinson blasts one on net.
Lavigne stops it but the rebound falls in the crease. Two ASU skaters are there, along with Luke Martin; Piazza is nearby but read the shot and tried to block it, so he’s a little delayed entering the fray. That doesn’t matter, though, as it’s Norris, the player fronting Martin that he’s trying to tie up, who pokes at the puck and sends it on a line toward the bottom of the faceoff circle.
Warren tried to stop the initial pass to the point, then tried to get over and block the point shot, and then just sorta turned and watched the rest unfold. He doesn’t notice Gruber coming off the boards and gliding through the faceoff circle, which means he’s not in position to affect the soon-to-be goal. Piazza went for the rebound and missed, and he then gets dumped by the other ASU skater in front of the net; he’s also not able to alter the shot. I guess you would hope that Lavigne would lock down the post once he sees the rebound knocked away, but I can’t really knock him because I’m not entirely sure Lavigne saw where it went.
RAABE GOAL
UM 5 ASU 3 EN 19:11 Assists: Slaker & Norris
Hughes wins a foot race to a puck along the boards but is under duress; he manages to backhand a pass to Norris. Norris passes up the boards to Slaker as the ASU skaters rotate to the middle.
No defender has noticed Raabe sneaking through the zone on the backside of the play, so he’s in perfect position to take a stretch lob from Slaker.
Raabe skates into the offensive zone and lifts a shot toward the net against nominal defense.
Saturday, February 24, 2018
#13 Michigan 5, Arizona State 3
1st period
MARODY GOAL
UM 1 ASU 0 EV 10:35 Assists: Cecconi & Dancs
Cecconi gets the puck out of the zone by playing it off the boards to Marody, whom he sees behind an ASU skater charging up-ice.
Marody closes on the puck and one-hands it off the boards to himself. This flumoxes the ASU defenseman, who instinctively reaches for the puck when he thinks Marody is about to gain possession only to find nothing there.
Marody gets the puck on the other side of Wilson, who now has to turn and chase. Marody controls this puck with one hand all the way to the goal mouth, using the back of his blade to steer it where he wants to go.
And that way is around the goaltender. Marody pulls it across Daccord’s face, avoiding the poke check in the process. The amount of control he exerts here is unreal. He’s coming in wide and in one move gets it across the front of the goalie and all of a sudden has the puck on his forehand in the middle of the crease.
Daccord rolls the dice with the above poke check. There’s a chance he can push a bit and stay square after Marody makes his move; there’s no chance of that once he gets his balance shifted so far to his right with the poke check. Marody lifts the shot from in tight for the goal. So glad GIFs exist.
PIAZZA GOAL
UM 2 ASU 0 PPG 13:59 Assists: Marody & Hughes
Marody again uses his reach to protect the puck, somehow managing to retain possession through a hit. Slaker skated in to try and pick the puck off the boards but doesn’t end up having to since Marody keeps possession. Instead, he’s able to set a screen on the defender trailing Marody, opening him up to take it to the net or, as he opts to do, pass. Marody sees a lane back to the point and takes it.
Piazza fires a snap shot that goes just outside the ASU skater looking to block it. Daccord, meanwhile, sees a big blue “90” and that’s about it thanks to a perfectly-timed Dancs screen.
The shot hits the top corner as Dancs slides through, and Daccord punching Dancs with his blocker as this is taking place is indicative of what he’s focused on as puck hits twine.
WINBORG GOAL
UM 3 ASU 0 EV 18:33 Assists: Piazza & Raabe
Cecconi gets to a loose puck and rims it around to Raabe, who sees there’s no way he’s getting up-ice considering the two ASU skaters descending on him. He throws the puck to Winborg on his left.
That pass, however, misses. Winborg never touches the puck, but Piazza has circled up from his spot supporting Cecconi and he’s in the perfect place to retrieve the errant pass.
Piazza isn’t interested in possession, though. Winborg has continued skating, and Piazza sees an opportunity to spring him; you can see that he’s crouched and ready to pass the puck ahead before it has even reached him.
Not a ton going on here, but wanted to show what kind of opposition Winborg is facing as he gains the zone.
Winborg puckhandles and wrong-foots his shot. Daccord gets his blocker out as he goes into his butterfly and opens up the six hole, the space blocker-side between his blocker arm and body, which happens to be exactly where Winborg’s shot is traveling.
2nd period
CALDERONE GOAL
UM 4 ASU 0 EV 4:51 Assists: Unassisted
Walker tries to pass to Wilson (I think), who’s entering the offensive zone, but is cut off by Calderone. His pass hits Calderone, then banks off the boards and into the neutral zone.
The result is not great for ASU; Calderone touched the puck once, to push it ahead for himself, to this point.
Calderone gets his hands way out in front to put as much into his shot as possible, and he once again shows how dang accurate his shot is. He picks and hits the near-side top corner, and Daccord is left to watch it go over his shoulder.
Walker goal
UM 4 ASU 1 EV 12:32 Assists: McGing & Norris
Walker gains the zone off a stretch pass. Cecconi comes over to cover and takes a swing at the puck, missing by inches. Walker threads the pass through Cecconi’s legs and hits McGing.
McGing carries to the bottom of the faceoff circle and turns. Cecconi tries to get his stick in the passing lane back to Walker but is slow to react. Walker gets his blade behind his skate, pivots, and picks up the pass.
Walker is able to transfer his weight from his back foot to his front and fire a fast-rising snap shot that goes just over Sanchez’s foot and outside his back. Lavigne sees it and gets his blocker up but misses by just a bit, as the puck hits the top corner.
Walker goal
UM 4 ASU 2 PPG 19:12 Assists: Pasichnu & Gruber
Piazza tries to clear the puck up the boards but gets it smothered by two ASU skaters. It hits Walker, falls into his skates, and he picks it up and carries to the top of the faceoff circle. From there, he passes to Gruber.
The pass isn’t very good, though, and ends up in Gruber’s skates. He turns on the puck and decides to backhand a pass to the point. Raabe reads the pass and almost deflects it with his blade, but he’s a second too slow.
Pasichnu fires a one-timer off of the pass from Gruber. Walker gets his stick extended and deflects the puck past Lavigne, who’s also being screened. After an extended review, it’s determined that Walker kept his stick below the crossbar.
3rd period
CALDERONE GOAL
UM 5 ASU 2 PPG 10:27 Assists: Marody & Cecconni
Marody picks up a loose puck in the corner, turns on it, and holds the puck out to his side like he’s going to shoot. He sells it well enough to get Jansons to put his stick in the passing lane to Dancs in front of the net. This in turn opens up a passing lane on a diagonal to the high slot.
Calderone one-times it, and not a moment too soon. Look at the screen cap below and you can’t see his stick or the ASU defender’s stick in front of him because they’re both in motion; Calderone gets his shot away by a second.
Dancs was doing a nice job screening Daccord when Marody had the puck, but he’s unable to get in front of the netminder before Calderone’s shot is on net. The puck goes over Daccord’s shoulder and between him and Dancs, tucking itself just inside the post.
Buncis goal
UM 5 ASU 3 EV 12:15 Assists: Lappin
Buncis picks up the puck in the corner and skates behind the net. Lavigne goes from having the post locked down…
…to having the post itself locked down while leaving the rest of the goal line exposed. Lavigne’s right leg comes up as he extends the left to the post, and that opens up the five hole. Buncis wraps it around and sweeps the puck through the space Lavigne has ceded.
Quick Thoughts:
Michigan absolutely has to avoid taking penalties against Wisconsin if they want to win the series. They took 12 penalties in the series against Arizona State and allowed three goals to a power play that entered Friday’s game with a 12% success rate. This admonition comes without even considering Michigan’s passivity on the kill; structure doesn’t matter if they don’t play so sloppy and stay out of the box. Michigan got bombed on Friday, allowing one shot attempt per minute on 14 minutes of kill time over seven (!) penalties.
Things were a little better on Saturday, as Michigan allowed only 0.5 shot attempts per minute. Still, though, they took five penalties. Michigan’s a different team at even strength, and they need to limit the chances Lavigne will have to move laterally to make saves. He’s fine blocking with the body, but going side to side is not his strong suit. Every penalty kill is asking for him to have to go post to post, and mixing a penalty kill that elects not to press past the faceoff circles with a goalie’s weakness is asking for trouble. Stay out of the box and I like Michigan’s chances against Wisconsin this weekend.