(Photo: Susan Wong/WCSN)
Throughout the first period, No. 12 Arizona State dominated puck possession over Robert Morris University. The Sun Devils limited the Colonials to just three shots on goal in the opening frame.
However, the Sun Devils controlling first period was not an indication of things to come later on in the contest. The game’s tempo quickly escalated.
The Colonials began to mount a comeback and brought the game to within a goal. ASU head coach Greg Powers felt his team squandered multiple opportunities to widen the gap between his team and his opponent.
“We had some really glorious chances to go up four or five goals on them and put the game away.” Powers said. “We didn’t. We fell asleep on the d-zone faceoff and let them back in the game. It was an impressive push by them, and hats off to them.”
Despite Robert Morris’ late-game comeback attempt, the Sun Devils prevailed 3-2 and improved to 17-9-3 on the season.
The game ultimately came down to the team’s execution on the power play, which distributed a combined 14 penalties and 10 power-plays. Prior to Friday night’s game, ASU had just one goal in its last 13 attempts on the man-advantage across five games.
However, the Sun Devils were able to convert twice on six opportunities to give the the edge over Robert Morris, who were an empty 0-for-4 on the power play.
“I thought our power play was really good,” Powers said. “A couple power-play goals and some serious zone time. We could have had four or five easy, and their goalie made some big saves to hold them in it.”
On ASU’s first powerplay of the night, ASU senior defenseman Brinson Pasichnuk fired a laser from the point through traffic to break the ice at the 10:15 mark of the first period. It was Pasichnuk’s first power-play goal of the season, and fifth multi-point performance in his last eight games.
Four minutes after his first goal of the night, junior forward Willie Knierim tacked on ASU’s second power-play tally midway through the second period. Knierim deflected home a shot from the point, extending ASU’s lead, 3-0.
“Willie is playing a great hockey,” Powers said. “He gives us an element that we just haven’t had here. A big body that really relishes at being in the goalies’ eyes and making life difficult on them. He’s playing the way he needs to play to help us win games and to help himself be successful.”
Knierim, who is second on the team with 12 goals, has five goals and seven points in his last seven games.
Despite allowing an odd-man-rush goal to RMU captain Luke Lynch in the third period, sophomore goaltender Evan DeBrouwer locked down with 13 saves on 14 shots on goal in the final frame.
“I think as a whole the team has gotten better as the year has gone on,” DeBrouwer said. “For the most part, we’ve been pretty good at closing teams out and going into the third period with the lead.”
With their sixth win in the last seven games, the Sun Devils improved to 9-2-2 at Oceanside Ice Arena and moved up two spots to No. 9 in the PairWise rankings.
Despite the hard-fought victory, Powers knows there’s still room for improvement with seven games remaining in the regular season.
“I think we’re pretty close,” Powers said of his team’s full potential. “With how we played in spurts tonight, you saw us at our best. We have to sustain that and find a way to do that over sixth minutes.”
