(Photo: Nicholas Badders/WCSN)
GLENDALE — After the fifth of No. 15 Arizona State’s eight unsuccessful power plays on Friday night, Johnny Walker couldn’t conceal his frustration any longer.
As the Sun Devil sophomore forward was sent to the penalty box for a tripping minor — bringing another fruitless ASU man-advantage to a premature end — he pleaded with the official, upset with the call and even more enraged with the Sun Devils’ sloppy, lackluster offensive performance.
By that point late in the second period, ASU had been given plenty of chances to find the back of the net. But its special teams came up empty every time, sinking the Sun Devils to a 3-0 loss to No. 19 Clarkson in the semi-finals of the Desert Hockey Classic at Gila River Arena.
“It’s simple, our guys weren’t ready to play,” coach Greg Powers said postgame. “…When you get outworked and you get outexecuted, the result’s going to be what you just saw.”
Back in the opening frame, Walker — the NCAA’s scoring leader entering the night — came close to lighting the lamp on ASU’s first power play opportunity. With the puck bouncing in front of the net during a 5-on-3 chance, the winger crashed the net and took a swipe at the goal.
Minutes earlier, Clarkson forward Josh Dunne had scored the night’s opening tally on a similar play, cleaning up in the crease by poking a backhander over ASU goalie Joey Daccord, who had fallen flat on his back during a scramble in the crease.
But Walker came up empty, his whiffed shot becoming the first of an avalanche of missed chances that buried ASU in its tournament opener.
“They popped an ugly 5-on-3 (goal) on us and then right after got a 5-on-4 (goal),” Powers said. “We were given the exact same opportunity, an extended 5-on-3, to give ourselves a chance to get back in it, and we didn’t execute.”
During the team’s record-breaking first half of the season, the Sun Devils’ special teams had played a vital role, ranked in the top 25 in the country in both power play (19.3 percent) and penalty kill (87 percent). Clarkson, meanwhile, had just the nation’s No. 33 man-advantage and a lowly 79.7 penalty kill success rate, 41st in the NCAA.
But on Friday, it was the Golden Knights who were efficient once skaters were sent to the box.
After Dunne’s opener, forward Devin Brosseau doubled the Clarkson lead less than a minute later by ripping a slap shot past a partially screened Daccord from the point.
In the third, Clarkson put the game away when Daccord sent a short-handing clearing attempt straight at Golden Knights point-man Aaron Thow, who immediately settled the puck and rifled a clapper through Daccord’s legs.
It was the first time all season ASU’s penalty kill allowed three goals.
“Some things happened early in that game, a couple penalties we can’t take, and they capitalized,” Powers said. “We were just playing uphill and couldn’t climb out of it.”
ASU’s power play was even worse.
In the second period alone, ASU went a man up four times but didn’t capitalize once.
Defensemen Brinson Pasichnuk and Josh Maniscalco struggled to get shots to the net against a Clarkson defense that recorded 15 blocks. Walker and freshman forward Demetrios Koumontzis were too selective at times, Powers said, holding the puck too long at times instead of throwing it at the net.
Junior center Brett Gruber came close to scoring on a couple occasions in the middle frame, only to send a deflected shot from the point skimming off the top of the crossbar before burrowing a wrister from point-blank range harmlessly into the chest of Clarkson goalie Jake Kielly — who made 15 saves to collect his 14th career shutout, most among active NCAA goalies.
“As poorly as we played and as bad as our power play was, we missed a lot of chances,” Powers said. “If one of them goes in it changes the landscape of the game.”
Despite getting outshot 29-15 in the game, the Sun Devils generated chances at even strength too — including one sequence during the second period where they had back-to-back 3-on-1 and 3-on-2 odd-man rushes within seconds off each other — that they failed to finish.
“It just felt like one of those games where we probably weren’t going to score,” Powers said.
A big problem: Powers felt his team wasn’t sharp coming off its Christmas break. Errand passes, off-target shots and the octuplet of power play chances were evidence enough for the fourth-year coach.
“It was a bad game,” he said. “We haven’t had many of them, we’re 14-7 and we have to find a way to bounce back tomorrow.”
ASU can still salvage a positive result this weekend, facing No. 3 Minnesota State in the tournament’s consolation game at 7:30 p.m. Saturday night.
The Sun Devils have lost back-to-back games just twice this season and already have one top-10 win under their belt (on the road against then No. 6 Penn State), key resume builders that have the Sun Devils ranked No. 9 in the NCAA’s “PairWise” rankings — used to pick the 10 at-large berths to the NCAA Tournament at the end of the year.
In a lot of ways, Friday was an anomaly in ASU’s otherwise auspicious season. The team was shutout for just the second time all year, a usually reliable power play fell flat and the Sun Devils could never dig out of an early 2-0 hole.
Powers hopes it will prove to be just an isolated setback. With dates against not just Minnesota State, but also Boston College, No. 20 Cornell, Boston University and Minnesota still on the schedule, ASU can’t afford too many similar performances and stay in the postseason picture.
“I told them to flush it, tomorrow we have to show up and we have to stay out of the box,” Powers said. “We are not a team that can get in special teams battles. We don’t have the high-end skill of some of the teams that we play in this second semester have.
“If we’re going to get into special teams battles like we did tonight, we’re not going to win games. We have to play 5-on-5 and use our depth and play downhill, play a good heavy game, and tonight we did not do that.”
