CLICK HERE for Game Recap from Kristy McNeil and other pertinent information and HERE for current Pairwise Rankings.

What just happened (TL;DR): LOL how much time to you have? In the end, Michigan mostly outplayed and then outlasted Penn State, holding a 4-1 lead and then hanging on at the end 6-4. Hey, they killed off a game and didn’t give up the lead in the third! Progress! Michigan needed three points from this game, and they got them.

FINAL CORSI NUMBERS (www.collegehockeynews.com)

Forward Notes.

-Michigan mostly controlled play, shots, and chances…and definitely House Shots…throughout the night. All four lines looked good…while they still had they on the ice. It took some special teams play and third period rallies to even up the numbers. Michigan set the tone, starting the game with a 14-2 shot advantage. There were 2-3 stretches of play where Penn State just could not hang at all and could barely clear the zone.

-Philippe Lapointe mostly had a good game on Friday. He poked a loose puck in to open the scoring early in the first period. He also moved up and down the lineup, playing different roles, forechecking well, etc. He also gave the puck away in his own zone, leading to the opening Penn State goal.

-Frank Nazar and Garrett Schifsky each tallied a goal and an assist. Nazar scored a very sweet rebound goal, backhand flipping a chance into an open net after Schifsky blasted an open look on a nice feed from Seamus Casey. He also later set up an open Jacob Truscott. Schifsky hit an open net from his own zone during the ending 6v4 PK. Normally, empty-netters are ho-hum, but tonight’s was a huge moment in a game that was slipping.

-Hoo boy. Mark Estapa, Rutger McGroarty, and Dylan Duke all did not finish the game, tonight. Michigan started the game with 13 healthy forwards, ending the game with 10. It’s unclear if any will play Saturday night, but my guess is the fact that Rutger was taken to the emergency room (said Brandon Naurato) tonight, there’s no way he will dress tomorrow night. Mark Estapa was using crutches in the press box during the game. That doesn’t look great. Dylan Duke was hit in the head. No way of knowing the extent of that right now. It’s certainly possible Michigan ices ten forwards on Saturday night. They could theoretically dress Josh Orrico and Brendan Miles in some capacity. We’ll see.

Defense Notes.

-Michigan defense wasn’t terrible overall. They mostly limited shots and chances to the perimeter, and did a decent job of clearing the net front. The DZTO before the first goal put them in a tough spot, as it looked like Lapointe had control of the puck in his own zone. Seamus Casey didn’t close down the shooter on the 1v4 rush on the second goal. That was something that the Wolverine defensemen have struggled with all season…but I didn’t notice a ton of those mistakes on Friday. The one was enough to burn them.

-Despite the one mistake by Casey, he was awesome in the offensive end…as he usually is. He only had one assist, but it felt like he could have had multiple. His skating and handling are magician-like. He also skated through Lion defensemen with ease creating shots for himself and others.

-Luca Fantilli was low-key pretty good, as well. Peter and I both remarked a few times that he made a good play here or tied up a guy or a stick in the House. They’ll need more of that from Luca going forward.

Well executed from Nazar and Truscott (Bill Rapai)

SPECIAL TEAMS CHART

Power Play. Michigan had a couple of really nice power plays early, holding the zone really well and generating chances. Neither resulted in a goal. Finally, Frank Nazar circled with the puck and hit a cutting Jacob Truscott who buried an open chance from the high slot for his first goal of the year. Michigan did have a five minute power play in the middle of the third period that they mostly skated five minutes off the clock…and gave the puck away for one really good Lion chance.

Penalty Kill. The weird thing is that I didn’t think Michigan’s PK was too bad, tonight…despite giving up two goals. The first goal was a deflection in off of a guy who was engaged. The late goal was on a 6v4 scramble after Barczewski made a nice save and Truscott made a good defensive play. PSU was just pressing and pulled their goalie for a two man advantage. The numbers don’t look great, but both of those goals just seemed like Whaddayagonnado? The last Lion power play was the result of yet another hit to the head and game misconduct. This time is was Josh Eernisse. Every game.

Whoooooooooooooooooa (Bill Rapai)

GOALTENDING CHART

Notes. Jake Barczewski started in net on Friday night. Overall, he played pretty well. He’ll want the second goal back as he whiffed a little bit on a shot from distance that surprised him (Casey played a role in it, too). I don’t think he could do much with the power play deflection goal or the first goal that followed a bad DZTO by Lapointe. Aiden Fink faked going behind the net and dropped the pass to Matt DiMarsico who snuck the puck inside the post…that Barczewski left anticipating the wraparound to the far side. The fourth goal was a massive scramble on a 6v4 where he made the first save. Jake was very positionally sound throughout the night, making bunches of saves on solid PSU chances. He also got across on the penalty kill to make a nice lunging kick save. It probably wasn’t his best night, but by far from his worst either. Tough to blame him for most of the goals.

MORE PENALTY SHOTS (Bill Rapai)

ODD MAN RUSH CHART

Notes. Nick Moldenhauer gave the puck away at his own blue line, leading to the only breakaway of the game for Penn State. Jake Barczewski stepped up and made the biggest save of the evening to that point.

Gavin Brindley got the only OMR –also a breakaway- of the evening for the Wolverines. Rutger McGroarty made a phenomenal spring pass off the boards to get Gavin in alone. Brindley was pulled down and a penalty shot was called. After waiting out Noah Grannon, Brindley scored around the outstretched pad to give Michigan a 2-0 lead.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Well, they finally closed out a third period and grabbed all three points. Yay! However, it may have cost them up to three forwards. This is where only having 14 forwards on the roster at the beginning of the year is coming back to haunt them. Hopefully, they can fight through one more game and get some Hero-like performances from some guys to beat an inferior PSU team, claiming all six needed points. Right now, though, in every possible way, it just feels like they can’t catch a break. Saturday night at 7pm at Yost on BTN-.