ASU hockey committed six penalties Friday night allowing two power play goals as the Sun Devils fell short 3-2 against No. 1 Ohio State.
Sun Devil Hockey opened up its series against Ohio State, the top-ranked team in the NCAA, with a hard fought 3-2 defeat dropping them to 2-1-0 on the season.
The game began with both the Sun Devils and Buckeyes struggling to retain possession with neither team being able to control the puck in the offensive zone for a very long period of time.
The Sun Devils had a few early breakaways chances end without a goal. The first attempt came from Josh Maniscalco, who had his shot blocked by a Buckeye defenseman.
The second came when alternate captain Dominic Garcia found himself with nothing but open ice between him and Ohio State goalie Sean Romeo after he blocked a pass at center ice.
Romeo stopped Garcia’s shot, and a few of the players on the ice exchanged words and shoves in front of the Inferno, Arizona State’s student section.
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After the referees separated everyone, Steenn Pasichnuk and Tommy Parran were sent to the box for coincidental roughing minors.
With just over four minutes remaining in the period, senior Freddy Gerard pulled the puck out of a scrum against the corner boards, cut in front of ASU goalie Joey Daccord, and lifted the puck top shelf with a backhand, ending Daccord’s season opening scoreless streak at 75:02.
A few minutes later, a holding penalty called on the Buckeyes’ John Wiitala gave the Sun Devils a power play opportunity with just over two minutes remaining in the first frame.
Johnny Walker sent a wide-open chance off the post and Demetrios Koumontzis had his open look deflected out of play, and those were the best chances that the Sun Devils had on their first power play of the night.
On the ensuing face-off, Dakota Joshua found himself in the box after cross-checking an opponent after being tossed from the face-off circle by the referee.
The Sun Devils did not score on the very short 5-on-3, though Johnny Walker tied the game very early in the second period with a power play tally, extending his goal streak to three games and tying the game at 1-1.
“Coming out in the second, we had to execute,” Walker said of his goal. “That was a good one to get us started.”
The deadlock did not last long, however, as two Gvido Jansons penalties in under three minutes allowed the nation’s best power play to give the Buckeyes a 3-1 lead.
Later in the period, Johnny Walker was sent to the box for a double minor, one for a high stick during the play and the other for a crosscheck after the whistle, and it seemed as though the Buckeyes would expand their lead yet again, but the Sun Devils held on killing off the penalty.
“That brought us a lot of momentum,” Sun Devil head coach Greg Powers said.
After more chippy, low-possession hockey, the Sun Devils took control late in the period, leading to a second Johnny Walker goal off of a deflection that was reviewed to check for a high stick. The goal, which came with two seconds remaining in the second period, brought the Sun Devils within one yet again.
Despite pulling Daccord late in the final regulation period and throwing everything possible at Romeo, the Buckeyes held on for the 3-2 victory.
Despite the loss, co-captain Brinson Pasichnuk found bright spots in the closely contested game.
“The third came around and we played our game,” Pasichnuk said. “It’s pretty special when we can dominate a period against the number one team in the country.”
The Sun Devils will look for the series split against the Buckeyes Saturday night at Oceanside at 7:05 p.m. PT.
All quotes in this article were obtained firsthand by Devils in Detail unless otherwise noted.