[Patrick Barron]

Friday, February 17, 2017

#20 Wisconsin 5, Michigan 2

1st period

Frederic Goal

UW 1 UM 0 EV 10:53 Assists: Linhart & Tischke

Tischke passes to Linhart and gets the defense moving from the goalie’s left to right.

Linhart executes an exaggerated step to his left, which pulls the defense further outside his shooting lane. From there, he sees an opening and shoots it off the boards behind the goal.

Michigan’s about to get beat by a Lidstrom. This may be called something else by others, but those people are wrong. Aside from steering everyone under the sun harmlessly into the corner for, like, two decades, this was his signature move. The puck hits the boards and bounces right to Frederic. He just has to throw the puck at the open net, as there’s no way LaFontaine can get over fast enough to square to the shot.

As for the unnerving openness of Frederic, this could have been prevented had De Jong and Cecconi not doubled the skater in the slot. This is especially frustrating considering how often Michigan has left guys unchecked in the same area.

[After THE JUMP: turnovers of the nonfood variety]

2nd period

MARODY GOAL

UW 1 UM 1 PPG 01:00 Assists: Slaker & Piazza

Piazza holds the puck enough to draw one defender high. He times this well, allowing the defender to get close but not so close that he can’t get a pass away.

Slaker quickly carries down the wing, dragging one defender down with him and grabbing the attention of one of the two who are low in the zone. Slaker sees the defense rotated completely to his side but far enough apart to allow a big horizontal passing lane to the opposite faceoff circle. He puts a great pass on Marody’s stick.

Marody sees the pass coming and one-times it. Berry has no chance at this one, try as he might.

Hughes Goal

UW 2 UM 1 PPG 12:06 Assists: Kunin & Johnson

Continuing the theme of problematic double-teams, two defenders converge on Hughes as he’s about to enter the offensive zone. Seeing these two come together, he passes to Kunin just in time to keep the play onside.

Both defenders turn to look for the puck, and as they do so Hughes hits the turbo button and flies past. Kunin makes the easy, logical pass ahead.

LaFontaine is faced with a rapidly developing breakaway. Hughes goes backhand-forehand and over LaFontaine’s pad. I can appreciate the “we’re going to level this guy” theory of double teams, but it’s not a great time to pull that out of the hat when there’s a winger pretty much next to the puckcarrier.

3rd period

ALLEN GOAL

UW 2 UM 2 EV 08:48 Assists: Winborg

It looks like Winborg is out of the play here, but he came in with such speed that the Wisconsin puckhandler is rattled from having to dodge him. He forces a pass behind the net; the teammate he assumes will be there to retrieve the pass has a Michigan skater standing in front of him. Shuart reads it and steps up, which forces the Wisconsin player to again reconsider and abort his pass.

Shuart hurries behind the net and generates so much perceived pressure that the Wisconsin players flings the puck into the faceoff circle. Winborg has circled back into the play and takes the pass as if it was intended for him. Meanwhile, Allen has dropped lower into the zone to support, which he’s able to do because of the pressure exerted by Michigan’s forecheck.

Winborg skates in enough to grab Berry’s attention before passing to Allen. Berry instinctively tries to throw himself across to no avail. Allen’s too open, is too close, and has too much time for this to be turned away.

Frederic Goal

UW 3 UM 2 EV 10:23 Assists: Kunin & McGuire

LaFontaine has done a lot of great things this season. This was not one of them. He could stop the puck and let the teammate in front of him pick it up, or he could play it off his backhand to another teammate. The one thing that would be a mistake, and the one thing that happens here, is rimming the puck around the boards.

Michigan’s outleveraged here. There are two Wisconsin skaters against one Michigan defender, and though Porikos does a good job sticking with his man, the pass is complete deep in Michigan’s defensive zone.

What happens from here is tough is to be mad about. Kunin’s pass is so precise that Frederic just has to redirect the puck into the net. On top of that, both Kunin and Frederic have a defender (or, in Kunin’s case, two) in solid defensive position. A mistake spurred this sequence, but there was no defensive breakdown leading up to the goal.

Zirbel Goal

UW 4 UM 2 EV 17:43 Assists: Cavallini & Greenway

The battle along the boards ends in a stalemate, but Cavallini gets into position to help and ends up grabbing the loose puck. He then carries it behind the net, albeit under constant harassment from Luke Martin.

Cavallini executes a flawless drop pass that Zirbel gains control of on LaFontaine’s doorstep. Zirbel lifts the puck up and scores short-side. Scoring to the short side is happening more often in part due to goaltenders’ increased use of the reverse-VH, though in this case LaFontaine was likely hedging off the post a bit in anticipation of a wrap-around attempt when the puck popped back out front. Winborg completely lost Zirbel and Piazza saw the pass too late to close on him. Goaltending technique isn’t to blame here.

Malone Goal

UW 5 UM 2 EV 18:01 Assists: McGuire & Besse

Besse squeezes the puck down the boards to McGuire, who has Cecconi closing on him rapidly. Of note: Malone completely unchecked in the slot.

McGuire throws a pass to the front of the net for Malone. Even though Malone is indeed wide open, the puck hits a Michigan stick and slides past LaFontaine’s feet. An unfortunate fluke, really.

Saturday, February 18, 2017

#20 Wisconsin 6, Michigan 4

1st period

Frederic Goal

UW 1 UM 0 EV 00:08 Assists: Ustaski & Kunin

Another day, another guy gliding to the front of the net unrestrained. Cecconi tries to body up Ustaski.

Cecconi does a pretty good job only to find Ustaski somehow reach past him and backhand a pass under Cecconi’s arms to Frederic. Frederic gets the low shot away and beats Nagelvoort five-hole. Meanwhile, Slaker and Warren are doing whatever that is.

SANCHEZ GOAL

UW 1 UM 1 EV 00:43 Assists: Calderone

If Michigan has one thing going for it in the series it’s Wisconsin speeding themselves up on passes behind their net. It happens again here; instead of the netfront Michigan skater applying pressure and forcing the pass a different direction, the pass goes behind the net and is intercepted by Calderone.

To Sanchez’s credit, he saw Calderone step into the pass and immediately took off for the slot. He gets into position in time to catch the pass from Calderone…

…and turn on it, hitting the far-side top corner as Berry attempts to slide across.

C. MARTIN GOAL

UW 1 UM 2 EV 04:40 Assists: Porikos

Porikos is about to be squared up by a Wisconsin defender and makes the wise choice to throw a long shot on net instead of smothering the puck along the boards. Berry stops the shot and steers it to the corner.

Porkios does a great job staying in the play, as he heads down the boards after his shot attempt and is in position to gather his own rebound. He dishes to the trailing Cutler Martin in the high slot, who one-times it past Berry before he can get off the post.

Frederic Goal

UW 2 UM 2 SH 17:51 Assists: Kunin

A blocked shot turns into a short-handed scoring opportunity. Credit Kunin for closing hard on the shot, though it should have been passed back to Piazza at the point.

Being that he’s the point man, Piazza’s the guy with the one real chance at defending the pending breakaway. Frederic swims past him, picks up the loose puck, and is off.

I’m not entirely sure what threw Nagelvoort off here, but it may have been the way he kicked up his off foot (making it appear as though he might shoot off his right foot) before holding the puck a second longer and wrong-footing the shot.

2nd period

Cavallini Goal

UW 3 UM 2 EV 02:01 Assists: Hughes & Besse

This goal isn’t the direct result of two forecheckers so much as one who’s hounding, but the second helps facilitate by being in position to go after the loose puck after Cavallini, the Wisconsin forechecker, snuffs out Piazza?

Besse passes to Hughes, who has the entire zone above the red line open to him thanks to a line change gone wrong; Piazza expected to turn on the puck and look for an option up-ice, not get ripped down and lose the puck.

Hughes skates in and lifts his stick; I believe he was trying to sneak it five-hole. To Nagelvoort’s credit, he hands in and makes the first save. The rebound is right on his doorstep with no Michigan skater to sweep it away. Cavallini gets up from behind the net and jams the loose puck in.

CECCONI GOAL

UW 3 UM 3 EV 12:58 Assists: De Jong & Marody

Marody wins the draw back to his right, where De Jong takes it and quickly moves it to Cecconi at the point.

This is one of the simpler goals I’ll ever analyze, as it’s just a perfect shot that Cecconi wires to the top corner. Berry gets his glove up but not fast enough.

3rd period

Linhart Goal

UW 4 UM 3 EV 07:36 Assists: Wagner & Malone

Wagner shoots a relatively harmless shot, particularly when he had a passing option to his left and right. Granted, they aren’t huge passing lanes but they’re feasible. Nagelvoort makes the initial save.

Short of catching it, there’s not much else Nagelvoort could do here. He steers the rebound aside but into oncoming traffic. The puck hits the group of three skaters in front of the crease and is past Nagelvoort before he can readjust.

WINBORG GOAL

UW 4 UM 4 EV 08:27 Assists: L. Martin

Huzzah, another circus goal. As has happened over and over in this series, the skater decides that the best play is to send the puck on net from the boards instead of trying to skate through a check or squeeze the puck down the boards. In this case it’s Luke Martin, and he lifts a high shot on goal.

Winborg is in good position behind his defender to get to the net without him noticing. He skates in and gets his stick on the puck, redirecting it past Berry just as the defender fronting him reads the puck’s path and starts to get his stick parallel to the ice.

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Tischke Goal

UW 5 UM 4 EV 11:03 Assists: Johnson & Hughes

Two guys go to hit a Wisconsin player and said player gets a pass away to another skater, Tischke, who has just entered the zone.

Can’t blame the defense for this one, really. Shuart’s in position and defending the high slot, yet Tischke somehow is able to flip it through his legs. Nagelvoort can’t see this; Shuart’s setting an inadvertent screen.

As for Nagelvoort, not really sure why he has his leg pads so far apart. I think he was shuffling, thinking that he was going to push one way or the other but not knowing which was to go because he lost track of the puck. There’s no way he’d have the five-hole so open if he could see the puck was still in the high slot, as he’s already square to the shooter.

Cavallini Goal

UW 6 UM 4 EN 19:23 Assists: Tischke & Cavallini

An empty-netter whose genesis was a defensive-zone faceoff, and for which icing was obviously waved off, might just encapsulate this season. Frustrating, unfortunate, baffling.