ASU Men’s Hockey: Walker’s late goal lifts Sun Devils to important tie against No. 3 Minnesota State

(Photo: Nicholas Badders/WCSN)

GLENDALE — After No. 15 Arizona State had its game-tying goal waved off because of goalie interference with just over eight minutes to go Saturday night, the prevailing mood on the Sun Devils bench was clear.

“We were pissed off,” coach Greg Powers said. “It should have been a goal. One hundred times out of 100, that’s a goal.”

It wasn’t just the call — officials ruled junior Brinson Pasichnuk had knocked down No. 3 Minnesota State goalie Dryden McKay before poking the puck into the net — that had ASU upset.

Trailing 2-1 in the final minutes Saturday night, the Sun Devils were staring down a winless weekend in the Desert Hockey Classic and an inauspicious start to a challenging stretch run to the regular season. It looked like ASU’s golden opportunity to pick up a resume-boosting result against a top-5 team was slipping away.

Then, Johhny Walker came through. Again.

With 29 seconds left, ASU’s sophomore forward was in the right place at the right time, all alone at the back post to tap in a loose puck — his team-leading and NCAA-best 18th goal of the year — that leveled the score 2-2. The Sun Devils would go on to win in a shootout, 3-2, at Gila River Arena, though the game will go down officially as a tie under NCAA rules.

“There was never a doubt on our bench that we were going to get the game-tying goal,” Powers said. “Another really good moment for our program. Even though that’s an official tie, to bounce back after playing so poorly last night and play that team the way we did was a good sign.”

As an unexpected NCAA tournament contender, Saturday’s tie — and the momentum that will accompany the shootout victory — could be huge for the Sun Devils, who will play just four of their final 12 games of the season at home.

After entering the weekend ranked No. 9 in the PairWise rankings, the tool the NCAA uses to fill the 10 at-large tournament berths, ASU was in danger of coming away empty-handed. On Friday night, the Sun Devils were sluggish in a 3-0 loss to No. 19 Clarkson — which won the Desert Hockey Classic championship game earlier on Saturday.

And though ASU struck first against Minnesota State Saturday, after Walker dished a pass from the high slot to freshman forward Jordan Sandhu at the back post for his second goal of the season, the Mavericks outshot ASU 15-4 in the second period and scored twice to take a 2-1 lead into the third.

Minnesota State forward Walker Duehr beat ASU junior goalie Joey Daccord first, finishing a 2-on-1 chance in ASU’s end after Sun Devils defensemen Jarrod Gourley and Jacob Wilson had been drawn out of position. In the final minute of the frame, Maverick forward Dallas Geralds took advantage of a Pasichnuk turnover, flying down the wing in transition before deking around Daccord (who made 29 saves on the night) to give Minnesota State the lead.

While ASU dominated the third, outshooting the Mavericks 14-7 and getting a pair of powerplay opportunities, Pasichnuk’s overturned score was the closest the Sun Devils came to tying the game until Walker’s tally in the final seconds.

“In the third period we were incredible,” Powers said. “We shortened the bench a little bit [playing] nine [forwards] we thought we could get going. I thought we carried the play.”

ASU had the goalie pulled in the final minute when junior center Brett Gruber fired a shot at the Minnesota State net. McKay got a toe to it, but the rebound ricochetted straight to Walker, who slid it into a wide-open net for his only goal of the weekend.

“We’d been pressing for a while,” Walker said. “You felt it. We scored one early [that] we all thought should have counted, but this team deals with adversity all the time. There’s just no quit.”

After a scoreless five-minute overtime period — the best chance of the sudden death session belonged to Duehr, who ripped a wrist shot off the crossbar with just over two minutes left — ensured an official tie (the NCAA does not count shootout results in its official standings), the Sun Devils won the shootout 1-0 on a goal sophomore defenseman Max Balinson, who was playing in just his third game of the season, snipped over McKay’s glove into the top corner.

“I’m a pretty [good] shooter,” Balinson deadpanned when asked if he thought about trying a more elaborate shootout move. “I didn’t think I was going to over-stickhandle or anything like that.”

The road doesn’t get easier for ASU the rest of the way. Next weekend, Boston College comes to town for a two-game series (Friday’s game will be played at Oceanside Ice Arena in Tempe; Saturday’s will be at Gila River Arena), before the Sun Devils hit the road for four of their final five series of the year at No. 20 Cornell, Boston University, RIT and No. 13 Minnesota.

Trying to become the first independent program to make the tournament since 1992, ASU’s margin for error is thin. Saturday’s tie could be a crucial chip when Selection Sunday rolls around in a couple months.

“The second half (of the season), you have to get off to a good start,” Walker said. “We were a little slow last night. To bounce back like we did tonight is huge.”

“Every game is a must-win,” added Balison. “To make the tournament as an independent team, it’s pretty unheard of. We have to bear down.”