ASU men’s hockey lost 4-3 in overtime for the second night in a row to the Yale Bulldogs.
The Sun Devils were never able to establish a lead in the game and could only score in response to the goals from Yale, which did them no good in sudden death overtime.
“It’s always good to battle. We know we have resiliency. It’s a disappointing one,” ASU head coach Greg Powers said. “Again, another mistake in overtime … it just can’t happen. We didn’t deserve to win that game.”
Over the course of the weekend, sophomore goalie Joey Daccord saved 101 of the 108 shots he faced. Cumulatively, ASU had a shot total of less than half that with 52.
However, the shot discrepancy was not the primary issue for the Sun Devils as they struggled with managing the puck.
“We had a tough time getting it out on the walls,” freshmanright wing Johnny Walker said. “Again, not excluding myself here at all. It was a tough, tough weekend.”
For the majority of the first period Yale dominated the ice with its puck possession. As the Bulldogs continued to break ASU down, junior defenseman Charlie Curti struck first with an assist from sophomore right wing Will D'Orsi with 5:38 remaining in the first.
“We had constant pressure. You can tell by plus a 100 shots,” Yale sophomore centerman Evan Smith said. “We didn’t get frustrated because we couldn’t score or anything. We just kept to it and it payed off in overtime both games.”
In response, ASU was able to force time in the offensive zone which translated into a goal from the blue line by freshman defenseman Max Balinson with assists from sophomore centerman Tyler Busch and redshirt senior right wing David Norris.
ASU ended the first period and started the second on a power play, but the team did not gain any momentum.
Yale took advantage of ASU’s spotty defensive coverage and controlled the second period with a multitude of quality scoring chances.
“They out chanced us tonight,” Powers said. “ ... Two overtime losses is certainly not anything we’re going to thump our chest about. It’s an inexperienced team and it’s certainly a weekend this group is going to have to learn and grow from.”
At the start of the third period Yale started off even stronger than the first period. Sophomore left wing Luke Stevens scored a power play goal with an assist from freshman right wing Kevin O'Neil with only six seconds to go with the man advantage.
“I actually thought we played a little better tonight than we did last night,” Yale head coach Keith Allain said. “I thought a lot of our offensive chances were cleaner. I thought we were more consistent in our game.”
The Sun Devils then took another penalty, but flipped it to their usage as sophomore defenseman Brinson Pasichnuk scored a shorthanded goal with assists from centermen junior Anthony Croston and sophomore Brett Gruber.
“I thought it was a great weekend … they had to fight through that, they had to play back-to-back so it was like a playoff weekend,” Allain said. “It was really valuable for us.”
Half way through the third, Yale took a 3-2 lead with a goal from freshman defenseman Brian Matthews, who was assisted by Curti and Smith.
ASU scrambled with less than five minutes remaining in the final period and tied the game with a goal from Walker with an assist by Gruber.
“It was great that we were able to respond a couple of times, but we all know that we can do way better than that and we have to be,” Walker said.
This was Walker’s 10th goal of the season and with it he broke the team record for goals by a freshman.
“Johnny is the best freshman goal scorer we’ve had, and he’s proven it and he’s got four more games to go,” Powers said. "He’ll continue to score. He’s a good hockey player.”
Yale produced chances early in overtime and, like the previous game, they scored with less than three minutes to go due to a defensive mistake by the Sun Devils.
Smith scored the game winning goal for Yale with assists from freshman left wing Dante Palecco and sophomore defenseman Billy Sweezey.
“Dante just made a great play off the boards to chip it to me and I just drove hard to the net and kind of chipped it in,” Smith said.
This is only the third time this season ASU has been swept in a two-game series. Additionally, the Sun Devils are now on a five-game losing streak with a bye-week ahead of them next weekend.
“I don’t think that we … played well enough to win this weekend,” Walker said. “I think that we were really fortunate to even be in overtime. If it weren’t for Dax (Daccord), then I don’t think we even force an overtime … It wasn’t enough and we’ve got to be better.”
Reach the reporter at pburnell@asu.edu or follow @paige_burnell on Twitter.
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