It was a goaltender’s duel on Saturday at Oceanside Ice Arena.
ASU hockey (3-12-0) played its rematch with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (3-12-1) on Saturday night, and the game remained scoreless for almost 50 minutes before the Engineers scored. RPI went on to win 2-0 with an empty-net goal.
“Those are tough to swallow, because you’re at home, and that was a winnable game,” ASU head coach Greg Powers said. “I think it was an evenly-played game. I was happy with how we came out in the third. The first few shifts, we had some grade-A (chances). At the end of the day, you can’t miss those backdoor tap-ins that we had in the first period.”
Robert Levin was in net for ASU after sophomore Ryland Pashovitz got the start Friday. Levin looked like he was on his way to a shutout before RPI’s deciding tally in the third period, but the senior stopped 26 of 27 shots faced.
“I thought he was good – he was solid, he made some big saves,” Powers said of his netminder. “I need to look at the goal that (RPI) scored, I didn’t see it. I have no idea what caused it. But overall, I thought he was good. He did what he had to do.”
Sophomore Cam Hackett did the goaltending for RPI. He shutout ASU, making 28 saves.
.@SunDevilHockey and RPI warm up before their rematch here in Tempe.@statepresssport will have it covered! pic.twitter.com/CRTrsX9bne
— Matt J. Layman (@mattjlayman) November 26, 2016
Each team had 28 shots on goal. Overall, both ASU and RPI were 0-for-3 on the power play.
“The penalty kill was incredible,” Powers said. “Our power play, I think, looked crisper than theirs did.”
In the third period, RPI finally opened the scoring as junior defenseman Jared Wilson fired a shot past Levin from the point. That made it 1-0 with 10:34 remaining in regulation.
Then, with more than eight minutes remaining in the third, senior forward Jimmy DeVito went to the box for tripping. ASU failed to convert on that crucial power play, leaving them down by a goal with about six and a half minutes to go.
The loss means ASU split the weekend series with RPI. They’ll return to the ice on Friday, Dec. 2 to begin a two-game home series with Colgate.
Reach the reporter at matthew.layman@asu.edu or follow @Mattjlayman on Twitter.
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