Coming into Friday night's game against Robert Morris University, No. 12 Arizona State had scored just one goal in their past 13 opportunities over the last five games.
Tonight, they scored double the amount in less than half the chances as the Sun Devils (17-9-3) downed the Colonials (9-13-3, 9-8-3 AHA) by a score of 3-2 at Oceanside Ice Arena.
The top units for ASU certainly had a big impact in the victory, as senior defensemen Brinson Pasichnuk scored his first power-play goal of the season 10:15 into the game to put the Sun Devils on the board early.
ASU didn't stop there.
After leading in shots 13-3 at the end of the first period, junior forward Willie Knierim put home a power-play goal just over two minutes into the period to double ASU's lead.
Five minutes after his first goal, Knierim was able to get the puck to the back of the net after deflecting a shot from Brinson Pasichnuk while on the power-play to bump ASU to a three-goal advantage.
“I thought our power-play was really good," head coach Greg Powers said. "(We generated) a couple power-play goals and some serious zone time. We could’ve had four or five, easy. Their goalie made some really big saves to hold them in it."
Knierim, who ended the night as the game's first star, scored his 11th and 12th goals of the season in the victory.
He also has had recent success at home, which he credits to his comfortability at Oceanside.
“It’s just kind of natural now," Knierim said. "It just kind of fits our team identity and obviously being at home...getting ready for the game and getting ready in a home locker room helps.”
Knierim has 12 goals—including five in his last five games—and 19 points on the season.
“Willie is playing great hockey," Powers said of the winger. "He gives us an element that we just haven’t had here. (He’s) a big body that really relishes being in the goalie’s eyes and making life difficult on them; he’s playing the way he needs us to play to help us win games and for himself to be successful.”
Robert Morris didn't go quietly into the night and was able to cut the lead to two after left-winger Nick Lalonde scored with less than six minutes remaining in the second period.
Robert Morris captain Luke Lynch was able to find daylight on sophomore goaltender Evan DeBrouwer's blocker side on an odd-man rush with just less than ten minutes in regulation to bring the Colonials within striking distance of the Sun Devils.
Robert Morris pulled their goaltender with over two minutes left in the game in hopes of a comeback, but they were not able to find a game-tying goal.
“We had some really glorious chances to go up four or five on them and put the game away," Power said of RMU's late surge. "We didn’t. We fell asleep on the d-zone faceoff and let them back in the game."
Robert Morris outshot ASU 14-3 in the third period, but was not able to beat DeBrouwer.
DeBrouwer, who made his 25th start of the season, ended the night with 31 saves on 33 shots.
“I think as a whole, the team has gotten better as the year has gone on," DeBrouwer said of the team's performance. "For the most part, we’ve been pretty good at closing teams out and going into the third period with the lead.”
With that victory, DeBrouwer has improved to 14-9-3 on the season and is 6-1 in his last seven appearances.
“I think honestly that we owe a lot to (DeBrouwer)," Knierim said. "He’s been our backbone back there for our defense and we rely on him maybe a little bit too much but he’s been kicking all season.”
ASU will look to notch its 18th victory and fifth sweep of the 2019-20 season Saturday night against Rober Morris at Oceanside Ice Arena.
Reach the reporter at aklatsky@asu.edu and follow @averyklatsky on Twitter.
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