ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Two power-play goals 37 seconds apart in the middle of the first period gave the No. 18 Wolverines a fast start against No. 4 Boston University, and freshman Hayden Lavigne’s 30-save performance helped Michigan outlast the Terriers, 4-0.
Both Michigan coach Red Berenson and Boston University’s David Quinn pointed directly to special teams play in this upset at Yost Ice Arena.
“It was a good start for our power play,” said Berenson. “BU is a physical team. I think both teams played physical. When you take some of a team’s physicality out of the game by scoring on the power play then that can change a whole game. Scoring on the first two power plays was huge.”
“They played fast and physical and we weren’t ready for that out of the gate but as the end of the first went on, we got better at and really played well in the second,” said Quinn. “But our power play just let us down. We couldn’t buy a goal and our penalty kill let us down in the first period.”
At 10:04 in the first, six seconds into Michigan’s first power play of the game, Will Lockwood netted his sixth goal of the season, firing off a shot from the far side of the left circle to beat BU’s Jake Oettinger short.
Then at 10:41, just 14 seconds after the start of Michigan’s second power play of the game, Tony Calderone scored from the slot to give Michigan the 2-0 lead after one.
Michigan has relied heavily on its power play to fuel its offense this season, with a man advantage that came into the weekend converting at 22.9 percent. At even strength, the Wolverines have struggled a bit to score, resulting in an average of 2.75 goals per game, a tie for 32nd nationally. Lockwood said that the Wolverines’ two first-period power-play tallies were “extremely important” to the outcome of the game.
“We were missing some of our seniors who are some key players on the power play,” said Lockwood, “so to really have that going for us was huge in this game.”
Four starting seniors were missing from the lineup for unspecified violation of team rules: forwards Alex Kile and Max Shuart, and defensemen Nolan De Jong and Kevin Lohan. Senior goaltender Zach Nagelvoort was also a healthy scratch.
“Their first two goals came easy,” said Quinn. “I thought they came out and really set the tone physically. Obviously, they had a couple of guys that decided to sit out, which usually charges your team up.”
The Terriers dominated the second period, outshooting the Wolverines 15-3 with three power plays. BU also outshot Michigan in the third, 10-8, but Jake Slaker’s goal from the bottom of the right circle at 6:17 made it 3-0, and Calderone’s second of the night into an empty net at 15:25 put the game out of reach.
“At the end of the day,” said Quinn, “this is a game of being opportunistic and scoring goals. You can have all the zone time that you want, the shot attempts you want, but you’ve got to get goals.”
Berenson said that the Wolverines may have been motivated by being shorthanded tonight, especially against a team they respect so much.
“We knew that maybe weren’t one-hundred percent and we’ve got to play probably over our heads,” said Berenson. “I thought we got that kind of an effort tonight.”
Boston University (4-3-1) and Michigan (5-3-1) meet again Saturday in Yost Ice Arena at 5:05 p.m.
Other Big 10 results
No. 12 Penn State 6, Alaska Anchorage 3
Chase Berger and Kris Myllari each had two goals and Myllari added an assist in Penn State’s 6-3 win over Alaska Anchorage in State Park, Pa. The Nittany Lions held a 4-0 lead going into the third period. In the third, the teams exchanged goals with the Seawolves’ Tad Kozun netting two. Penn State’s Peyton Jones needed only 14 saves in the win as the Nittany Lions outshot the Seawolves 45-17. Olivier Mantha had 39 saves for Alaska Anchorage.
No. 14 Ohio State 7, Connecticut 4
Ohio State senior David Gust recorded his first career hat trick in the Buckeyes’ 7-4 win over the visiting Huskies. The Buckeyes led 2-1 after the first on goals by Josh Healey and Gust, but the Huskies scored three straight goals to take a 4-2 lead by 13:23 in the second. Ohio State, though, answered with three goals in a 1:34 span less than a minute later, beginning with Gust’s second of the night at 14:08 to carry a 5-4 lead into the third. Gust scored again at 16:55 in the third and Luke Stork capped the game with an empty netter at 19:49. Adam Huska had 31 saves for the Huskies and Christian Frey had 21 for the Buckeyes.
