(Photo: Kylee Meter/WCSN)
Right before the final seconds ticked off Arizona State’s third straight successful penalty kill Saturday night, senior forward Anthony Croston raced into a shooting lane in his own end, blocking a slap shot from the point with the shaft of his stick. It shattered in two as the puck fluttered wide of the net.
Immediately, the Sun Devils’ bench began slapping the blades of their twigs against the boards in recognition, celebrating a moment that was indicative of their completely smothering performance in a 3-0 season-opening win over Alaska Fairbanks at Oceanside Arena.
Earlier this week, coach Greg Powers insisted this year’s Sun Devils, boosted by a wave of gifted freshmen, have more talent than any ASU team before. Their first win of the season, however, was keyed by the sharp defensive play of its veterans.
“That’s a good sign, having that veteran leadership that knows what it takes to close out games,” Powers said postgame.
After surging to a 2-0 lead midway through the first period, the Sun Devils stingy defense took over. ASU held the Nanooks to just 23 shots the entire game — all saved by Daccord — with its two-goal never looking in danger during the final two periods (ASU tacked on an empty-netter at the end).
“I thought we closed out extremely well,” Powers said. “I thought we controlled the third period for the most part. I don’t think they had really any grade-A (scoring chances) in the third.”
Added Daccord: “They made it really easy for me. It was awesome seeing them blocking so many shots and honestly, the chances weren’t really there for [Alaska Fairbanks].”
ASU created the better scoring opportunities Saturday and during a one-minute span in the opening frame, its young flashy core of offensive weapons struck twice.
The opening goal began in ASU’s own end, when freshman defenseman Josh Maniscalco intercepted a centering pass and began a crisp breakout, with the puck to redshirt freshman top-line winger Austin Lemieux, an academic redshirt a season ago, then found junior center Tyler Busch centered a pass for highly-touted freshman and Calgary Flames draft pick Demetrios Koumontzis for a close-range finish.
“I was definitely nervous,” Koumontzis said. “It’s good to get it out of the way but it’s better to get the first win.”
Moments later, junior goalie Joey Daccord, playing the puck around his net, saw sophomore forward Johnny Walker open near the far blue line and rifled a long pass, freeing the team’s leading scorer from a season ago to tally his first goal this year on a breakaway backhand finish.
“Puck came in, went to the right of me, I looked up and was going to just fire it up the boards and get back to the net, then I just saw Johnny, classic hanging around at the blueline going the other way,” Daccord joked. “He told me he heard my voice in the back of his head the whole time going I was going to let him know if he didn’t score. He made sure he put that one in.”
“I thought we closed out extremely well,” Powers said. “I thought we controlled the third period for the most part. I don’t think they had really any grade-A (scoring chances) in the third.”
Though the Sun Devils didn’t score again until junior Brinson Pasichnuk found an empty net in the closing moments, they played at times with impressive speed and skill Powers hinted at earlier in the week, a certain level of talent his past teams have lacked.
“People that follow our program just haven’t been accustomed to seeing (that),” Powers said. “Because we haven’t had that high level of skill yet. But it’s here now and they made some plays tonight to help us win a game.”
However, it was ASU’s penalty kill, which went 3-for-3 against the Nanooks, that Powers called the “highlight” of the game. After finishing a mediocre 26th in the country shorthanded a season ago, the unit was suffocating on Saturday.
ASU survived going a man down twice early in the second period before putting an exclamation point on the defensive performance by killing a third minor penalty inside the final ten minutes of regulation.
“Our kill was really sharp,” Powers said. “They were aggressive, they were on pucks, they made it difficult on the (Alaska Fairbanks) powerplay. I don’t think we [allowed] to many shots on the powerplay tonight.”
Leading the special teams unit was Croston and fellow senior Dylan Hollman. Both finished with plus-1 ratings Saturday and Croston, one of ASU’s best at the faceoff dot, won a series of important defensive zone draws down the stretch.
“They’re our go-to vets,” Powers said of the senior duo. “They’re shut down guys and you can see it, they’re embracing that role.”
It all equated to a bright start for the Sun Devils, who won their first game of the season for a second straight ear. With the score still close in the third, Powers was able to roll through his lines and his group, which only dressed three seniors, looked sharper in the neutral zone and at the faceoff dot.
After the game, he issued his team a challenge.
“We can’t be content with getting one (win) anymore,” he said.
ASU struggled in these situations last season, when it went 0-3-1 when having an opportunity to pick up a sweep. The team only won consecutive games once in 2017-18, when it picking up back-to-back victories to claim the Ice Vegas Invitational.
The Sun Devils performance on Saturday showed flashes of improvement over last campaign. Sunday’s weekend finale, which starts a 3 p.m., presents an opportunity for them to do something they failed to accomplish all of last season.
“The biggest thing is experience and having veteran leadership that knows how to close games out, series out,” Powers said. “As a young program, we now have that (experience), so the expectation is going to be close opportunities out.”
