Michigan
24-7-1, 15-6-0
Ohio State
21-10-2, 13-8-2
Pair of Hughes Goals Propel Michigan Past No. 11 Ohio State
2/18/2022 11:23:00 PM | Ice Hockey
» Luke Hughes scored twice to claim first place in U-M hockey history for goals by a freshman defenseman with 15 on the season.
» Thomas Bordeleau scored and added an assist; he has points in 10 of his last 11 games.
» A trio of Wolverines recorded two assists: Michael Pastujov, Mark Estapa and Jacob Truscott.
Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Yost Ice Arena)
Score: #2 Michigan 5, #11 Ohio State 3
Records: U-M (24-7-1, 15-3-0-0-3 B1G), OSU (21-10-2, 12-7-0-1-2 B1G)
Next U-M Event: Saturday, Feb. 19 -- vs. #11 Ohio State (Yost Ice Arena), 8:30 p.m.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Luke Hughes etched his name in the Michigan hockey record books on Friday night (Feb. 18), as his two goals propelled the second-ranked University of Michigan ice hockey team to a crucial conference win over No. 11 Ohio State by a score of 5-3. A late empty-net goal from Hughes sealed the deal for the Wolverines in what was a hard-checking, 60-minute battle inside a sold-out Yost Ice Arena.
Erik Portillo continued his stellar play by stopping 22 of the 25 Buckeye shots he faced to earn his 24th win of the season.
Just under five minutes into the contest, Michigan (24-7-1, 15-3-0-0-3 Big Ten) was sent to an early power play after Ohio State (21-10-2, 12-7-0-1-2 Big Ten) picked up a minor penalty for hooking. Michael Pastujov put the best chance of the advantage wide of the left post by inches as the penalty was about to expire.
Later in the period, an OSU forward dashed down the ice on an abbreviated breakaway after a Wolverine defenseman lost an edge in the neutral zone. The skater went to his backhand but bounced a slick shot off the right post and out.
Less than a minute later, Ethan Edwards returned the favor with a near-miss of his own by sending a long-distance shot off the right post beside Buckeyes goaltender Jakub Dobes. Despite the excellent chances at each end of the ice, neither side could crack the code to open the scoring in the first 19 minutes of play.
Before the end of the frame, OSU pounded a puck across the goal line amidst a netfront scrum with 20 seconds remaining to take a 1-0 lead into the dressing room at the first intermission.
After a period of fast-paced play, Michigan trailed by one goal but led OSU 9-8 in shots on goal.
Michigan came out for the second period with fervor, evening things up at 2:01 after Thomas Bordeleau noticed the Ohio State netminder was playing without a stick and stickhandled his way through traffic toward the net. Bordeleau ended up veering toward the left post before flipping the puck over the shoulder of Dobes. Mark Estapa and defenseman Jack Summers assisted on Bordeleau's ninth goal of the year. Bordeleau continued his strong play of late with the marker; he has now tallied points in 10 of his last 11 games.
The Wolverines struck again to take a 2-1 lead just 1:43 later when Hughes made program history by moving into sole possession of first place in scoring among freshmen defensemen with his 14th goal of the season. Philippe Lapointe and Jacob Truscott picked up the assists on Hughes' record-breaking goal.
The visitors took a penalty for too many men on the ice with 12:34 left in the second stanza to give U-M its fourth power play of the game.
Eight seconds after winning the offensive-zone faceoff, Dylan Duke buried a power-play goal to give the Wolverines a 3-1 lead. Truscott made a nice play on the boards to hold the blue line and keep the possession alive before Pastujov scooped the loose puck and fed a pass over to Duke's wheelhouse with 12:26 left in the second period.
Ohio State quieted the crowd, scoring to make it 3-2 just 14 seconds after Duke's tally.
The Buckeyes embarked on their second power play of the evening with 5:20 left in the second period after Beecher was sent off for a faceoff violation. Portillo was stout in net, backstopping the penalty killers through the two-minute disadvantage to drop the OSU power play to 0-for-2.
After a frenetic middle period, the Wolverines ascended the Yost Ice Arena steps to their locker room with a 3-2 lead and a 25-19 edge in shots on goal. U-M also was outperforming the Buckeyes in the faceoff dot, putting together a 24-14 lead after two periods.
Michigan went down a skater 2:42 into the final frame when Hughes was assessed a minor penalty for roughing to give the Buckeyes their third power play of the night.
Ohio State netted its first goal on the man-advantage with 15:58 left to tie the game at three.
Shortly thereafter, it was Michigan's turn to return to a five-on-four power-play advantage when an OSU defender was penalized for tripping. Despite a host of dangerous looks, they failed to regain a lead before the advantage expired.
Michigan's power play was activated with 7:00 left in regulation after OSU took a tripping penalty. Captain, Nick Blankenburg, needed just 19 seconds to bury a second-chance opportunity after Dobes made a fantastic stop on an initial chance from Estapa, who earned the primary assist on Blankenburg's tally. Bordeleau picked up the secondary helper on the go-ahead goal.
Estapa took a penalty with 4:27 to go when he was sent to the box for two minutes on a cross-checking minor. Once again, the penalty-kill unit stood strong and dismissed the OSU advantage to drop the Buckeye power play to 1-for-4 on the evening.
With the Buckeye net empty and the visitors searching desperately for a goal as time wound down, Pastujov corralled an errant pass and pushed the puck up to Hughes in the neutral zone. The blueliner took several strides toward the Ohio State blue line before depositing a long-range lob into the back of the net to clinch a two-goal game and ice a 5-3 win.
With the win, Michigan maintained pole position in the Big Ten standings. The Wolverines have 48 points off 15 regulation wins and three overtime losses to sit two points clear of Minnesota, which has 46. Ohio State is in third place with 42 points.
Saturday night, the Wolverines and Buckeyes will face off at 8:30 p.m. inside Yost Ice Arena to finish off their regular-season series. The game will be broadcast live on Big Ten Network. After the game, U-M will celebrate nine seniors in the team's annual Senior Night celebration: Blankenburg, Jake Gingell, Jimmy Lambert, Jack Leavy, Luke Morgan, Nolan Moyle, Pastujov, Jack Summers and Garrett Van Wyhe.
