No. 16 Sun Devils lose 8-4, split series with No. 2 Denver

(Photo: Sammi Maxwell/WCSN)

TEMPE, AZ — The sweet taste of victory and the sting of defeat this weekend had it all for No. 16 Arizona State (7-2-2) as they came away from a series against No. 2 Denver with a split, dropping game two 8-4 on Saturday.

While 8-4 was the final score, ASU was in the game for the majority of the contest. It came down to mishandling the puck and a couple of power-play goals that went the other way for Denver that ultimately made the difference.

“The first half of the game (Denver) didn’t generate much,” head coach Greg Powers said. “We were really good defensively, and we were good in neutral ice, and we were playing the right way, putting pucks in behind them. (But) mismanage pucks against Denver; they’re gonna make you pay, and they did.

The night started strong for the Sun Devils. They got on the board early with another power-play goal. This time, senior forward Lukas Silinger lit the lamp from the left circle to open the scoring, and for the second time this series, Arizona State had the initial lead. That goal was followed by two more in what seemed to be a rocking start to game two.

Through a period and a quarter, ASU was leading the Pioneers 3-0. One power-play goal and a goal each from senior defenseman Tim Lovell and graduate student Tyler Gratton got them there, but then the floodgates opened. Denver notched five total unanswered goals — four in the second alone — to find themselves leading 5-3 instead of trailing 3-0.

“Great start,” Powers said. “Even the first 10 minutes of the second, I think they probably had less in those 10 minutes than any stretch of the game. We were in complete control of the game. So we didn’t see that come in. We didn’t feel it coming. Again, you make one mistake with the puck, bringing it back into your zone when you don’t have to and then giving it away through the middle, they’re gonna make you pay, and they did.”

Making the Sun Devils pay is exactly what Denver did. After the ASU penalty kill held them to only one goal last night, the Pioneers notched two official power-play goals and another on a delayed penalty, giving the Pioneers the three scores they needed to grab the lead.

Holding onto a two-goal lead at the time, senior forward Ty Jackson received a delayed penalty for slashing, giving the Pioneers a third chance with an extra man, and it paid off. Even before Jackson could serve his time, Denver took advantage of the six-on-five opportunity to narrow the ASU lead to just one goal. According to the NCAA rule book, if a team scores on a delayed penalty, they still get that power play opportunity, which is what happened.

On the ensuing power play, Florida Panthers draft pick and junior forward Jack Devine made ASU pay, tying the game at 3-3 via a beautiful redirect of junior forward Massimo Rizzo’s shot. Devine didn’t just get the tying goal; he also scored the go-ahead goal — again on the power play — later in the same period to give the Pioneers the 4-3 lead.

At that time, the Sun Devils still weren’t out of it, just needing one goal to fight back. ASU fell short as Denver found the back of the net for their fifth time. Through two periods of play, ASU led in shots on goal 22 to 15 but couldn’t find the black of the net when the game was on the line.

Just before the ten-minute mark of the third period, senior forward Matthew Kopperud brought the game back within reach on a power play goal, making it 5-4, but ASU couldn’t again find their footing to get any more goals.

With a minute and half remaining in the third Denver got two empty netters under a minute apart and another goal with under 10 seconds left to seal the 8-4 win and series split.

“I think we feel like we deserved a better fate than we got,” said Powers.” You know, you’re up three, you’re buzzin’. We mismanaged a puck to cut it to 3-1. And then we’re all over them to [maybe] go 4-1, miss a couple of tappings on the power-play, and then that sequence where they scored on the [delayed penalty], and then got one on the power-play just changed the momentum of the game.”

Tonight, when the Sun Devils needed junior goaltender TJ Semptimphelter to come up with a couple of big saves, he came up short.

“We didn’t get them,” Powers said. “Let’s just be blunt, the kid’s great, he’s a great goalie. He’s been great for us tonight. He was not himself, it is what it is. We move forward, he’ll be fine.”

And despite outshooting the Pioneers 33 to 28 and opening the game with three unanswered goals, the Sun Devils couldn’t make it work for the sweep, but they still came away with a series split.

“It’s a hard-earned split with arguably the best team in the country,” Powers said. “And it stings because of the nature of how we lost, blowing a three-goal lead. It’s our first regulation loss in our first 10 games. If you would have told me at the start of the season, you’re 7-2-1 after 10. You split with Denver, you have one loss in regulation, you take it all day, and you know we have a lot of hockey ahead of us. Our best hockey, I believe, is ahead of us. Again, it’s not like we were bad tonight. It just didn’t go our way.”