The Miami RedHawks (12-7-2) continue to take major steps forward this season, knocking off the Arizona State Sun Devils (11-11-1) 2-1 in overtime on Friday night.
Related: Miami Takes Down Arizona State 2-1 In Overtime
It was nearly a full three-point night for the NCHC standings and a bigger boost in the NPI rankings, as Miami was just under three minutes away from closing it out in regulation. In the NPI, which determines NCAA Tournament seeding, overtime wins carry less weight than regulation wins, so missing out on that stinks a little bit.
Still, the RedHawks earned a massive road result without their leading scorer, Junior winger Matteo Giampa. David Deputy slotted right into Giampa’s place at top-line right wing and cashed in, scoring the overtime winner while firing a team-high six shots on goal.
He meshed well with Kocha Delic (LW) and Ilia Morozov (C), largely due to his speed and playmaking abilities. Delic nearly scored twice in this one, ringing the post twice, but still assisted on both goals.
Casper Nassen came up big as well with his second-period goal, on a night where goals were hard to come by for both sides.
The win also marked Miami’s first NCHC road victory in 1,049 days, according to John Lachmann of viewsfromtheglass.com.
“We did not even know that. That is not something we have really talked about,” head coach Anthony Noreen said. “But these are all massive. That was the message going into overtime. If you told us before the game we were going to OT with a chance to beat these guys, we all would have taken it.”
Below are three takeaways from the 2-1 victory.
RedHawks Were More Physical
Miami’s physicality showed across all four lines. Freshman forward Bradley Walker played his best game as a RedHawk in my eyes, earning a bump to the second line with Ryan Smith (LW) and Max Helgeson (C). He finished checks, disrupted plays, and brought some toughness. He did take an undisciplined interference penalty late in the first period, but overall played pretty well.
Defensively, Miami protected the net well. Any time goaltender Matteo Drobac gloved a puck or kicked out a rebound, the RedHawks boxed out hard and kept the Sun Devils away from second chances. As the game went on, they pushed more shots to the perimeter and took away the slot well, but Drobac was the story of this one.
Arizona State outshot Miami 14-4 in the first period, easily Miami’s worst frame, and 38 to 23 overall. But despite the shot volume, Miami stifled the Sun Devils’ top line of Cruz Lucius, Cullen Potter, and Bennett Schimek, the highest-scoring line in the country.
The one area where Miami struggled was the faceoff circle. Arizona State dominated draws at 61.1%. Logan Morrell went 16-for-20 (80%), while Morozov finished 10-for-23 (43.5%).
Noreen opened his postgame thoughts with a breakdown of the flow of the night.
“I thought they (Arizona State) had a really good start. I thought Drobes made some big saves in the first. I thought our penalty kill was one of the two keys of the night for us. Drobes, especially early, and then our penalty kill getting some really timely and really big kills and taking momentum back. From about halfway through the second and on, we really liked our game.
You saw it in the third. I thought we played as mature of a game as we have in that situation. Made a lot of winning plays and winning habit-type plays. Credit to them. They claw and get one, and we respond in overtime. It was another hard-fought NCHC game, and that is what it is going to be the rest of the way. Obviously, you love coming out on the right side of these.”
Drobac Was the Difference
Drobac stopped 37 of 38 shots on goal and faced plenty more attempts that were either blocked or missed wide. He was under siege, especially in the first period. He kept rebounds out of the slot, fought them off to the boards/out of play, and gloved down plenty of shots. The only shot that beat him was an absolute blast late in regulation.
Sam Court teed it up cleanly, and Drobac never saw it with bodies in front (Lucius). You can get a good look at the shots Drobac faced on the CollegeHockeyNews.com shot chart from the game below.
Drobac had to bail the RedHawks out a few times, including a couple of breakaways and a huge two-on-one blocker save on Calgary Flames first-round pick Potter early on. He also stopped all eight shots from Lucius, who had a team-high in shots on goal. Lucius co-leads the country in points with 32, now tied with fellow NCHC skater Max Plante of Minnesota Duluth.
PK Comes Up Big
Miami went a perfect 5-for-5 on the penalty kill and came up big Friday night. Going into Saturday’s game, they cannot take five penalties again against a power play as dangerous as Arizona State’s. It will cost them, and they do not need to play with that kind of fire again.
While down a man, the RedHawks pressured well from the point and all around the d-zone. They allowed very little space for the Sun Devils’ shooters, especially Potter and Lucius, who love to one-time pucks from the circles and slot. Miami simply did not allow them to get set up and execute. Defenders had great sticks to disrupt passes/shots and cleared pucks down the ice. Also, the RedHawks blocked 14 shots, many on the kill. Freshman defenseman Michael Phelan led the team with three blocks on the night.
Noreen summed it up well when breaking down what made the penalty kill successful.
“I think it was a combination. Drobes made some saves when he had to. I thought our guys had a really good buy-in to the message from Lio. We did a really good job pressuring when we could, and then we were really organized when we were not pressuring. They are as good a power play as you are going to see. I am sure it will be a big battle tomorrow night in that same area.”
The RedHawks are continuing to prove they belong in these games and have a massive opportunity to pick up a series sweep Saturday night at 7:00 PM EST.
