ASU Men’s Hockey: Sun Devils blow 3-0 lead, fall 5-3 to Quinnipiac

(Photo: Marlee Smith/WCSN)

It’s almost obvious that the two-goal lead is perhaps most dangerous in the sport of hockey. For Arizona State Men’s team on Friday night, it seemed as if a three-goal lead was too much to handle.

The Sun Devils dropped their first game of a two-game series against Quinnipiac 5-3 despite at one point holding a 3-0 lead. The No. 5 ranked Bobcats came back and scored five unanswered goals to win.

ASU started hot. It possessed the puck inside its offensive zone for the majority of the first period. After many Grade-A chances, redshirt senior forward Chris Grando netted his first goal of the season six minutes in to give the Sun Devils a 1-0 lead.

ASU was not done for the period. Despite going up against one of the best penalty kills in the nation, ASU’s power play unit capitalized on their first chance of the night. Senior forward Colin Theisen netted his sixth goal of the season ten seconds into the man advantage to put the Sun Devils up 2-0.

ASU was the first team to net two goals in the first period against Quinnipiac all season. The Bobcats also had not faced a two-goal deficit since their season opener.

The hot start carried into the second period for the Sun Devils. A minute into the period, sophomore forward Matthew Kopperud scored his ninth goal of the year on a two-on-one. Kopperud’s goal was only the second he has scored while ASU has been at even strength this season.

After the Kopperud goal, everything went downhill for ASU. The defense for the Sun Devils didn’t stay at the same level as it did in the first. The puck stayed in Quinnipiac’s offensive zone for most of the period and the stats showed it – the Sun Devils were outshot 17-9 and lost the face-off battle in the frame.

Quinnipiac scored their first two goals three minutes apart. The second goal came on the power play, which has been a sore spot for the Bobcats this year, as the group has only converted 9% of their power play chances.

It appeared ASU came out of the locker room for the third period more focused on maintaining its lead. For the first ten minutes, ASU did a good job keeping the puck away from the Bobcats and getting more shots on net.

The strategy did not work long though, as the game-tying goal was scored by Quinnipiac midway through the period. The defense became sloppy again and allowed odd-man rushes every time Quinnipiac moved the puck down the ice.

Sophomore goaltender Cole Brady had a solid night in the net despite the loss. He made many crucial saves and didn’t give up any second chances. Unfortunately for Brady, the ASU defense provided him very little help.

On the game-winning goal, Brady faced a breakaway after the Quinnipiac skater maneuvered through the entire defense. Brady finished the night with 32 saves on 36 shots.

Quinnipiac would tack on an empty-net goal to bring the final score to 5-3.

Friday night’s game sends the Sun Devils to 6-5 on the year, and ASU will look for revenge against the Bobcats on Saturday in the second game of the series.