No. 12 ASU picks up playoff win but strives for improvement

(Photo: Marina Williams/WCSN)

TEMPE — In one of the most important games in program history, Arizona State hockey got the job done and came away with the victory in its first-ever conference tournament game, but it has to be better if it wants to win the series.

“We found a way to get a win, and I’m really proud of our guys for that, but the process wasn’t going to be good enough if we’re going to go on a deep run,” head coach Greg Powers said. “It’s not even close.”

No. 12 ASU (20-13-2, 15-9-1 NCHC) may have won game one of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference Quarterfinals over Minnesota Duluth (13-18-3, 9-14-2 NCHC), 4-3, but Duluth controlled play for most of the game.

On the surface, the Bulldogs outshot the Sun Devils 31-23 and a big reason is because ASU’s repeated struggles exiting the defensive zone cleanly. The lack of clean defensive zone exits stemmed from poor puck management from the Sun Devils, which was a struggle for most of the game but it was especially true in the second period. In that second period, the Bulldogs managed to win the shot advantage 13-8 and scored a pair of goals to send the game into the third period tied, 3-3.

“The forwards got to come back to pucks,” Powers said. “We were pushing out, but we’re just kind of staying still and stagnant and not coming back to pucks and creating space in neutral ice. Their (defense) comes hard and pinch in the (offensive) zone and comes hard and close space in neutral ice, and we just got to come back to pucks and play faster.”

On top of the lack of clean exits, ASU’s play in the defensive zone was inconsistent. At times, the Sun Devils were unable to kill plays in the defensive zone quickly enough, which allowed the Bulldogs to take advantage and generate scoring chances.

Two of the three goals that Duluth scored were because of plays that ASU didn’t kill quickly enough. The first goal the Bulldogs scored came from a series of puck battles in front of the Sun Devil net that they couldn’t win, and it ended with freshman forward Max Plante firing it home from the hash marks.

On the third goal that Duluth scored, ASU lost another puck battle along the boards and senior defenseman Owen Gallatin sent a pass to freshman forward Zam Plante for the one-timer from the slot. On that play, senior forward Ryan Kirwan was at the hash marks but got caught puck-watching and was unable to get his stick in the way of the pass.

“Every veteran on our team needs to be better than they were tonight,” Powers said. “They weren’t good enough. This isn’t going to cut it.”

Despite the defensive lapses, senior goaltender Luke Pavicich came up big for the Sun Devils, stopping 28 of 31 shots and helped keep the Bulldogs off the board on the power play in their two chances. Pavicich also made huge stops on odd-man rushes and high-danger scoring chances, including his glove save to rob Max Plante, who was all alone in front of ASU’s net in the first period.

The Sun Devils’ offense was also a bright spot as they took advantage of the Bulldogs’ mistakes and netted four goals in different fashions. Kirwan opened the scoring with a slapshot from the right circle on the rush that freshman goaltender Adam Gajan got a piece of but still couldn’t stop. Minutes later, junior forward Charlie Schoen intercepted a pass at the red line and raced into Duluth’s zone and sent a wrist shot through the five-hole of Gajan.

In the second, graduate forward Lukas Sillinger found junior forward Bennett Schimek at the high slot and he fired a wrist shot through a pair of Bulldog defenders and into the back of the net. ASU’s game winning goal came in the third period from sophomore defenseman Anthony Dowd, who picked up the puck at the blue line, carried it along the wall to the goal line and went straight to the front of the net, where he fired a backhander past Gajan.

“We’re going to need to be a lot better down the stretch if we want to make a run at this,” Schimek said. “We all know that. We know it’s going to take a lot more tomorrow, but I think at the end of the day we’re happy that we got the result.”

ASU will definitely take the win and go up 1-0 in the best-of-three series against Duluth, but if the Sun Devils want to go far in the NCHC Tournament, let alone make the NCAA Tournament, they will have to tighten up defensively.

“I’m proud of our team, but I challenged them after the game,” Powers said. “They have to be better than what we played tonight, and we looked like a team that just got off of a bye week. We found a way to grind out a win, and that’s great, but that’s out of the way. Now we’ve got to end this thing tomorrow.”