PITTSBURGH — To say the Arizona State Sun Devils failed to capitalize on their chances against the Lake Superior State Lakers might be an understatement. The third-year program dominated a large amount of the territory and the shot counter to the tune of 49-20 in final total shots, but could not find a way to get more than one puck behind starting Lake Superior State netminder Nick Kossoff as they suffered a 4-1 loss in the consolation game of the Three Rivers Classic.
Kossoff was impressive in stopping 48 shots in collecting the victory, while his teammates capitalized on what opportunities came their way. Lakers forwards Max Humitz and Braden Gelsinger each provided a goal and an assist to lead the offensive attack in the victory, their fifth of the season.
“I liked that we bounced back,” said Lakers coach Damon Whitten, referring to their 5-0 loss to Robert Morris on Fir day night. “I thought that we played a lot more urgent in our game. We had more desperation and toughness tonight. Obviously Nick Kossoff was the difference in that hockey game. It’s been a challenging season so far, so it was important for us to get an important win tonight.”
Lakers forward and leading scorer J.T. Henke got his team on the board first when he delivered a check on Arizona State forward Brinson Pasichnuk, separating him from the puck and sweeping it past starting goaltender Ryland Pashovitz at 1:10 of the first period. Arizona State answered almost immediately when Tyler Busch picked up a loose puck in the slot and beat Kossoff at 3:48.
The Sun Devils then proceeded to go on a shooting spree by putting up a 30-to-15 shot margin through two periods of play, including a 12-minute stretch where they had kept the Lakers from a shot on net. However, Kossoff stood tall, and the defense around him cleared rebounds to safer areas all night long to help him preserve the win.
For the Sun Devils, it was a game in which the score was not an indicator of how the game actually went.
“We played a really good game,” Arizona State coach Greg Powers said. “We were sharp in every way but one; we just couldn’t put it in. That kid (Kossoff) played really well in net; hats off to him, he won the game for his team tonight, and unfortunately we didn’t have the puck luck to get a win but our guys played really well. It’s going to come. The more we develop as a program, the more skill we’ll be able to bring in. We definitely have the heavy grit, and the effort is there most nights from our guys; we just don’t have the finish yet. We had 18 ‘grade As’ to their six. I know our guys are upset because they felt like they deserved a better fate and they probably did, but it’s certainly an effort we can build off of, and if we continue to play that hard with that kind of pace, we’ll have some success.”
The Lakers found themselves in firm command in the third period as Ian Johnston posted his first career goal after taking a feed in the slot from Kyle Chatham. Johnston sent the puck to the back of the net at 2:31 to give the Lakers a 3-1 lead. Humitz then closed out the scoring and the outcome with an empty-net tally in the waning moments. The win gave the Lakers a third-place finish in their first Three Rivers Classic, improving to 5-10-2 overall, while the Lakers dropped to 4-11-4 on the year.
