ASU Hockey: Walker scores four in Devils rout of Mavericks

ASU hockey completed the sweep of Nebraska-Omaha thanks to four goals from Johnny Walker as the Sun Devils improve to 6-2-0 on the season.

The day after Arizona State and Nebraska-Omaha hockey players spent time in the penalty box 24 different times, the Sun Devils and Mavericks combined for 17 penalties in another chippy game.

The Sun Devils took advantage of the 10 times they found themselves on the man advantage, scoring five times, with forward Johnny Walker collecting four of those goals.

Coach Greg Powers had high praise for the high-powered man advantage.

“Structurally it’s been really good,” Powers said. “It’s gotten us a lot of momentum in a lot of games.”

The scoring started quickly for Arizona State. After Ryan Jones was sent to the box for crosschecking 4:51 into the game, the Sun Devils opened the scoring as Walker collected a pass from Demetrios Koumontzis and fired it into the net.

The Sun Devils took a 2-0 lead in the first period as PJ Marrocco corralled a loose puck and fired it over Evan Weninger’s glove shoulder on their second power play of the game.

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Arizona State took a three goal lead with 5:44 remaining in the period thanks to a 2-on-1 goal from Dylan Hollman.

The Mavericks had a chance to get on the board late in the first period, but Frederik Olofsson fanned on a one-timer that Joey Daccord would have had no chance at stopping. After 20 minutes, the teams headed to the locker rooms with the Sun Devils leading 3-0.

An interception on a Sun Devil pass led to a breakaway for the Mavericks that ended in an unsuccessful Tristan Keck penalty shot attempt after Josh Maniscalco hooked his stick around Keck’s body.

The Sun Devils found themselves on the penalty kill shortly thereafter as Koumontzis was whistled for high-sticking. With nearly half a minute left in the penalty kill, a penalty on the Mavericks’ Ryan Galt led to a short 4-on-4 followed by a Sun Devils power play.

Just as the Mavericks returned to even strength, a roughing call put them on their fourth kill, and Johnny Walker scored again from an almost identical spot to give Arizona State a 4-0 lead.

Nebraska-Omaha answered quickly as Taylor Ward fired the puck top shelf on a breakaway to get the Mavericks on the board. The score remained 4-1 until Dominic Garcia flipped a backhand shot past Weninger and Mason Morelli answered with a five-hole goal, giving the Sun Devils a 5-2 lead through two periods.

Walker found the net for the third time on the power play early in the third period, giving ASU a 6-2 lead as he picked up his first career hat trick.

Walker took sole possession of the NCAA lead for goals with his eighth of the 2018-19 season and 4th of the game minutes later, sealing the game at 7-2.

Walker was quick to praise his teammates when asked about how he has been able to put together such a hot start to his senior season.

“We’re playing great as a team and we’ll look to keep it going,” Walker said.

Demetrios Koumontzis, freshman winger and power play linemate to Walker has been waiting for the man advantage to flourish the way it did tonight.

“Our power play has been executing pretty well,” Koumontzis said. “We’ve been getting a lot of chances every game, and it’s nice to see a lot of them going in.”

Next. ASU Hockey: Croston reaches milestone in 6-3 win over Omaha. dark

The Sun Devils improved to 6-2-0 with Saturday’s win. They will travel to State College, Pennsylvania next weekend as they look to continue their winning ways against a top-ten Penn State opponent.

All quotes in this article were obtained firsthand by Devils in Detail unless otherwise noted.