Before traveling to Columbus, Ohio to play yet another ranked team on Friday, ASU hockey head coach Greg Powers told reporters Tuesday that more experienced programs like Ohio State play at a high pace for a full 60 minutes.
As those 60 minutes drew to a close on Saturday afternoon against the No. 11 Buckeyes, Powers’ team matched Ohio State’s urgency to notch a game-tying goal and force overtime.
The Sun Devils would eventually tie with OSU, a leap forward from a 6-1 loss on Friday night.
"We're trying to get our young team to understand how good it feels when you leave everything on the ice, and tonight they feel that way," Powers said via Sun Devil Athletics.
The loss on Friday began with a less-than-ideal start by sophomore goaltender Ryland Pashovitz for ASU, who gave up three goals in the game’s first eight minutes. He was then replaced by freshman Joey Daccord.
“From the net all the way out, we had nobody playing in the first 10 minutes," Powers said via a release from the team. “When you do that against a really good team like Ohio State they're going to make you pay, and they did.”
The lone goal in Friday’s defeat came from freshman defenseman Brinson Pasichnuk, his sixth of the season. Buckeye goaltender Christian Frey stopped 35 of the Sun Devils’ season-high 36 shots.
ASU still outshot the Buckeyes on Friday, 36-33.
On Saturday, the story was much different: the matinee matchup was scoreless through the first period as senior goaltender Robert Levin got the starting nod.
Levin and the defense managed to hold OSU 0-for-4 on their power play on the evening, the same power play unit that scored three times on Friday.
Meanwhile, ASU opened the scoring and took a 1-0 second-period lead on a goal by Wade Murphy, his seventh this year.
The Buckeyes eventually got two goals less than a minute apart near the end of the second, making it 2-1 OSU. That’s where the score would stay until the final minute of regulation.
With just minutes left on the clock in the third, Levin made a clutch save on a breakaway to keep it a one-goal game. That big stop paid off when freshman forward Tyler Busch knotted things up with 0:26 to go.
WHAT. A. SAVE. pic.twitter.com/ZWTHQVrfJI
— Robby Baker (@RobbyBaker12) January 14, 2017
Overtime didn’t yield another goal, so the game counts as a tie. The teams played an exhibition shootout, though, which the Sun Devils one.
ASU players celebrated with Levin after his masterful 22-save performance.
Dog pile!@SunDevilHockey tops No. 10 Ohio State after Robert Levin comes up with the big save! #ForksUp pic.twitter.com/m9IAJfrn0c
— Pac-12 Network (@Pac12Network) January 14, 2017
The Sun Devils outshot the Buckeyes, 28-24.
"We have a lot of hockey in front of us and we want to build off of this," Powers said. "We want to continue to make a statement that we're building a legitimate program out at Arizona State, and we're not a layup."
Reach the reporter at matthew.layman@asu.edu or follow @Mattjlayman on Twitter.
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