No. 16 Michigan puts serious dent in Irish home-ice playoff hopes with 4-0 victory
Notre Dame’s postseason hockey hopes face a must-win situation Saturday night at Michigan’s Yost Ice Arena following Friday’s 4-0 Big Ten loss to the Wolverines.
With just one game remaining in their regular season, coach Jeff Jackson’s Fighting Irish must beat Michigan outright or at least come up with an overtime or shootout victory for two points to have any chance of hosting a first-round, best-of-three series when the Big Ten Postseason Tournament begins March 8.
And those hopes would need a whole lot of help from their friends, the Minnesota Golden Gophers, next weekend in the Land of 10,000 Lakes.
Related:Previewing Notre Dame hockey's big weekend series at Michigan. Everything you need to know
Coach Brandon Naurato’s Wolverines got 22 saves from graduate goaltender Jake Barczewski and two first-period goals from Dylan Duke, the second one shorthanded, as No. 16 Michigan handed Notre Dame its third shutout loss of the season before a capacity crowd of 5,800 watching at the Red Berenson Rink in the Fielding Yost Ice Arena in Ann Arbor. RIT blanked Notre Dame 3-0 on Oct. 14 in Rochester, N.Y., and Michigan State throttled the Irish 4-0 Feb. 3 in South Bend.
The victory pulled Michigan (16-12-3, 9-10-2 Big Ten), which has two away games at Minnesota March 1-2 remaining in the Big Ten regular season, into a fourth-place tie with Notre Dame, each with 31 points. The setback was the second straight for the Irish (15-16-2, 9-12-2 Big Ten).
So Notre Dame needs at least two points Saturday night and then must hope for big-time help from the Golden Gophers, who would need to sweep Michigan to allow the Irish to play the Wolverines at the Compton Family Ice Arena March 8-10. With visiting Wisconsin blanking Penn State 6-0 Friday night, it eliminated any chance of the Nittany Lions have of finishing fifth ahead of Michigan or Notre Dame.
The Wolverines, who were 2-8-1 against Notre Dame in the last 11 games played between the teams at Yost, dominated the Irish from start to finish by a 35-22 shot advantage. Michigan, which entered the game with the nation’s best power play converting at 35.4 percent, got extra-skater goals from Garrett Schifsky at 17:32 of the second period and Gavin Brindley at 15:15 of the third period after Duke’s pair of goals (his 19th and 20th of the season) in the first period.
Bischel, who finished with 31 saves, clearly was not pleased with himself early in the first period at 4:35 when he allowed the first of Duke’s two goals. Michigan’s T.J. Hughes won a draw from Notre Dame’s Danny Nelson at 4:32 and Duke came in to snap a shot at Bischel that went under the goalie’s glove three seconds later for a 1-0 lead.
But the Irish goalie settled down and made two big saves on Rutger McGroarty and Duke during Michigan’s initial power play with Landon Slaggert in the box for Irish for hooking at 12:26.
The Irish then went on a power play when Josh Eernisse went off for boarding at 15:17. Duke took advantage of a mistake by Irish junior forward Justin Janicke carrying the puck out of his zone, picked up the loose puck and skated in on Bischel before going between his legs at 16:40. It was Michigan’s sixth shorthanded goal of the season.
The Irish tested Barczewski twice in the final minute, first Brennan Ali and then Janicke coming up empty. But the Wolverines weren’t through testing Bischel, who made two saves on Schifsky and one each on defensemen Ethan Edwards and Tyler Duke in the final 35 seconds before the horn sounded. Michigan finished with an 11-6 edge in shots.
Bischel made three key saves early in the second period to keep the deficit at 2-0. He stopped Philippe Lapointe point blank at 2:26, then turned aside Frank Nazar’s 10-footer at 7:14 and finally stopped defenseman Jacob Truscott at 7:38. Truscott then went off for kneeing Notre Dame’s Patrick Moynihan at 7:48, but the Irish managed just one shot on their power-play attempt before the media timeout at 10:19.
Bischel made stops on Dylan Duke and Hughes in the 15th minute before Michael Mastrodomenico was sent off for interference at 16:01. A little over 90 seconds later, Mark Estapa got the puck behind the Irish goal and centered to an unguarded Schifsky, who beat Bischel at 17:32 from 10 feet out for a 3-0 Michigan lead that stood after two periods.
Landon Slaggert had a shorthanded breakaway 27 seconds into the third period, but Barcewski deflected the shot into the far post.
Any hopes for an Irish comeback went out the window at 8:25 when Notre Dame’s Janicke received a five-minute major for hitting from behind and a game misconduct.
The Irish had a chance to get one of the goals back when Slaggert was pulled down from behind by Hughes and was awarded a penalty shot at 14:23. Slaggert skated slowly into the Michigan offensive zone and looked to go between Barczewski’s pads but was rejected.
The Wolverines scored their final goal at 15:15. Gavin Brindley scored his 19th goal of the season and Michigan’s second power-play goal of the night off assists from Rutger McGroarty and Hughes to put the final dagger into Notre Dame’s night.
MICHIGAN 4, NOTRE DAME 0
At Red Berenson Rink in Yost Ice Arena, Ann Arbor, Mich.
Notre Dame | 0 | 0 | 0—0
Michigan | 2 | 1 | 1—4
First Period—Scoring: 1. Michigan, Dylan Duke 19 (T.J. Hughes) EV 4:35; 2. Michigan, Dylan Duke 20 (unassisted) SH 16:40. Penalties: Notre Dame 1-2, Michigan 1-2.
Second Period—Scoring: 3. Michigan, Garrett Schifsky 14 (Mark Estapa, Nick Moldenhauer) PP 17:32. Penalties: Notre Dame 2-4 (3-6), Michigan 1-2 (2-4).
Third Period—Scoring: 4. Michigan, Gavin Brindley 19 (Rutger McGroarty, T.J. Hughes) PP 15:15. Penalties: Notre Dame 3-17 (6-23), Michigan 3-6 (5-10).
Shots on goal: Notre Dame 22 (6-8-8), Michigan 35 (11-12-12). Goalie saves: Notre Dame, Ryan Bischel 31 (9-11-11); Michigan, Jake Barczewski 22 (6-8-8).
Power-play opportunities: Notre Dame 0 of 3, Michigan 2 of 5. Faceoffs won: Notre Dame 29 (12-13-4), Michigan 24 (7-5-12). Blocked shots: Notre Dame 13 (2-4-7), Michigan 14 (6-6-2).
Referees: Barry Pochmara and Tony Czech. Linesmen: Pat Richardson and Samuel Shikowsky. A: 5,800 (5,800).
Big Ten standings: 1. Michigan State 14-5-2, 46 points (20-8-3 overall); 2. Wisconsin 14-6-1, 45 points (23-8-2 overall); 3. Minnesota 12-6-4, 37 points (19-8-5 overall); T4. Michigan 9-10-2, 31 points (16-12-3 overall) andNotre Dame 9-12-2, 31 points (15-16-2 overall); 6. Penn State 5-13-3, 20 points (13-15-3 overall); 7. Ohio State 4-15-2, 15 points (12-15-4 overall).
Friday’s results: Michigan 4, Notre Dame 0; Ohio State 6, Michigan State 2; Wisconsin 6, Penn State 0.
Saturday’s games: Notre Dame at Michigan, 6:30 p.m.; Ohio State at Michigan State, 6 p.m.; Wisconsin at Penn State, 6 p.m.
March 1-2 series: Michigan at Minnesota; Penn State at Ohio State; Michigan State at Wisconsin; Notre Dame-idle.