As the Sun Devils dropped both of their two home games against the Harvard Crimson this weekend, there was a glaring theme for ASU hockey: ineffective special teams.
ASU allowed two shorthanded goals and two power-play goals in its 7-0 loss to Harvard on Friday. On Saturday, Harvard was 2-for-4 on the power play and narrowly missed a shorthanded chance, beating the Sun Devils 6-2.
The Sun Devils were 0-for-11 on the power play over the weekend.
“(Special teams were) really bad. That was where we lost the weekend,” head coach Greg Powers said. “Tonight, that’s clearly where we lost the game … We have to get way more organized and shore that up. Our penalty kill wasn’t good — I think a lot of that has to do with how good they (Harvard) are.”
An early look at ASU's PK unit: pic.twitter.com/QqpnUHJmDu
— Matt J. Layman (@mattjlayman) October 30, 2016
In the first period on Saturday, the Sun Devils gave up two power-play goals and failed to convert on either of their own power plays.
When the Sun Devils came out for the second period, their PP unit continued an advantage that began near the end of the first frame. When they failed to convert on that chance, they were awarded another power play 11 seconds later.
In that power play, Harvard senior forward Ryan Donato rocketed out of the neutral zone for a shorthanded breakaway. Luckily for ASU, sophomore goaltender Ryland Pashovitz bailed out his team with a glove save.
“They probably had more Grade-A (scoring chances) on their penalty kill this weekend than we had on our power play,” Powers said.
A positive for ASU was the play of graduate forward Robbie Baillargeon, who has scored each of his team’s last five goals and had both of the Sun Devil tallies on Saturday. Still, he acknowledged there’s a process to improving as a new Division I team.
“I think we’re getting better every weekend,” Baillargeon said of ASU’s special teams.
“We’ve got a lot of young guys, so with that, you’re going to get growing pains,” he added. “It’s just getting that chemistry, knowing what works, what doesn’t.”
Powers told The State Press in early October that special teams are where a team “that’s maybe not quite up to speed” can “make up some ground” with a top-ranked opponent.
This weekend, the Sun Devils didn’t make up the ground.
Reach the reporter at matthew.layman@asu.edu or follow @Mattjlayman on Twitter.
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