(Photo: Austin Hurst/WCSN)
For the fourth straight game, No. 10 Arizona State found itself in a battle in overtime. After both teams traded scoring chances for five minutes, a shootout was needed. Senior forward Ryan Kirwan scored the only goal in the shootout and junior goaltender Gibson Homer sealed the deal for the Sun Devils, but the team had chances to win in regulation.
Especially in an ultra-competitive National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) that ASU is currently in the running for, every point matters. With only two weeks left in the regular season, these close games matter even more.
The game goes into the scorebook as a 3-3 tie with ASU (17-11-2, 12-7-1 NCHC) picking up two points with a shootout win over Minnesota Duluth (11-15-2, 7-10-1 NCHC) Saturday night at Amsoil Arena, but the Sun Devils had opportunities to take control of the game.
ASU went into this game with the third ranked power play in the nation, running at 29.5%. In this game, however, the Sun Devils were granted seven power play opportunities and only converted on one of them. Within the seven power play opportunities was a two-minute 5-on-3 advantage for ASU with 11:54 left in regulation, a monumental chance for the Sun Devils to take control of the game. On that two-man advantage for a full two minutes, ASU only mustered one shot on goal.
Minnesota Duluth even generated offense against ASU’s power play at times. While down a man in the second period, the Bulldogs got two high-danger looks when freshman defenseman Adam Kleber pounced on a breakaway that Homer stood tall against. Just a few moments later, Kleber was amidst a short-handed 3-on-1 but fired the shot just wide of the net.
Although the Sun Devils came up short on their opportunities, they still played well. ASU outshot Minnesota Duluth 44-35 and saw some high-danger scoring chances. Bulldogs freshman goaltender Klayton Knapp had an impressive game and made a whopping 41 saves to keep his team in it.
On the other end of the ice, Homer had a solid game as well, stopping 32 of 35 shots. One of the goals Homer gave up was on a 3-on-1 and another was deflected off the stick of sophomore defenseman Anthony Dowd and floated in the air over Homer’s shoulder and into the net. The only goal that Homer might want back is the first goal he gave up, a shot from the top of the left circle from freshman defenseman Ty Hanson on a zone entry.
Graduate forward Artem Shlaine scored a pair of goals to bring his season total to 13 goals and 31 points in 24 games. Graduate forward Lukas Sillinger picked up two assists to take sole possession of the team lead at 24 assists. The other goal scorer for the Sun Devils was sophomore forward Kyle Smolen when he forced a turnover in the offensive zone then set up a tic-tac-toe pass sequence with Sillinger, who fed it back to Smolen for the easy tap-in goal.
ASU now holds sole possession of second place in the NCHC, two points ahead of the trailing No. 20 Omaha and five points behind first-place No. 3 Western Michigan. The Sun Devils head home with the chance to make a big splash in the NCHC as they host Western Michigan next weekend.
