In their recent series against the University of Nebraska Omaha, the Sun Devils only allowed one goal on the penalty kill.
Special teams are essential to any hockey team, however, ASU's penalty kill has been a bright light for the Sun Devils since the start. In their first series against the Air Force Academy, the Sun Devils went 9/10 on the penalty kill.
Although ASU averaged a worrisome five penalties per game in the series, their ability to block 90% of them showed promise. Part of that success comes from senior goalie, Luke Pavicich, who saved nearly 90% of total shots on goal during the Omaha series.
"Luke's a great goalie," said senior defenseman Ethan Szmagaj per Sun Devil Athletics. "We trust him, he's doing his thing, and we just have to follow through."
Through their first 12 games, the Sun Devils have allowed only five goals on 34 penalties. Putting ASU at a .853 penalty kill percentage and tying Ohio State for 22nd in the NCAA.
A good penalty kill does not mean the team is successful as the Sun Devils are currently 4-7-1, grabbing their first official home win in mid-November. While their three-series road trip has something to do with their lack of winningness at home, they still struggle to find consistency.
However, the penalty kill has been directly tied to the success that the team has found.
In every game that ASU has won this season, including their unofficial win over Michigan in the shootout, the Sun Devils have gone completely perfect on the penalty kill. In all those winning games, ASU has taken 16 penalties.
In ASU's most recent loss to Omaha, they allowed one power-play goal for the Mavericks. However, the Sun Devils would be perfect on the penalty kill in their win the following night.
Assistant coach and head of player development, Dana Borges, has done a lot of work with the penalty kill unit to ensure that they can keep the puck out of the net. Coach Greg Powers said their penalty kill would have been perfect in their series against Omaha had it not been for a missed hooking call on senior defenseman Ty Murchison.
"Dana is doing a great job with the kill," Powers said. "We felt like (we) probably could have gotten through a weekend perfectly and last night they missed a hook off the face-off on Murch ... It was really good, we didn't give much on it."
Maintaining an effective penalty kill moving forward may help the Sun Devils continue to see success, especially in their series against No. 1 Denver.
The Sun Devils will face the reigning NCAA champions on Friday and Saturday. Graduate forward Ty Jackson said the penalty kill will be an important part of the series against Denver's third-ranked power play.
"Very, very important," Jackson said. "They have a lot of skill, they make a lot of plays. So, the PK, we have to be really good this weekend, and our power play also has to be really good. That's what we're going to need to be successful."
Edited by Henry Smardo, Alysa Horton, Abigail Beck and Madeline Schmitke.
Reach the reporter at Gbarberi@asu.edu and follow @Giobarberio1 on X.
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Giovanni is a sophomore studying history. This is his second semester with The State Press.
