Michigan
25-9-1, 16-8-0
Notre Dame
25-9-0, 17-7-0
U-M Drops Regular-Season Finale to Irish, Will Host MSU in Quarterfinal Series
2/26/2022 9:21:00 PM | Ice Hockey
» Matty Beniers scored his 17th goal of the season to tie the game in the third period.
» Owen Power and Brendan Brisson assisted on the Wolverines' lone goal.
» Erik Portillo made 26 saves while shouldering the loss for the Wolverines.
» Michigan finished the regular season in second place in the Big Ten Conference.
Site: South Bend, Ind. (Compton Family Ice Arena)
Score: #9 Notre Dame 2, #2 Michigan 1
Records: U-M (25-9-1, 16-5-0-0-3 B1G), ND (25-9, 12-6-0-5-1 B1G)
Next U-M Event: Friday, March 4 -- vs. Michigan State -- Big Ten Tournament quarterfinal series (Yost Ice Arena), 7 p.m.
SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- A controversial late goal proved to be too much for the Wolverines on Saturday night (Feb. 26) as the second-ranked University of Michigan ice hockey team dropped its second straight game to ninth-ranked Notre Dame by a 2-1 score to close out the regular season at Compton Family Ice Arena. Michigan finished the regular season in second place in the Big Ten.
Erik Portillo turned aside 26 of 28 shots that he faced from the Fighting Irish in the regular season finale.
The teams traded minor penalties in the middle of the period, but each side failed to capitalize on their first power-play opportunity as each side's search for the game-opening goal carried on.
After an opening period that featured plenty of back-and-forth play, the game remained scoreless but the Fighting Irish led 11-6 in shots on goal.
Notre Dame finally opened the scoring 7:12 into the second period when a two-on-one rush was finished off and deposited into the back of the net by a UND forward for a 1-0 lead.
Michigan's offense worked to develop momentum in search of an elusive game-tying goal but failed to find the scoresheet before the end of the second stanza.
With 20 minutes left in the regular-season finale, U-M trailed by one but had leveled the playing field with 17 shots on goal.
Matty Beniers tied the game for the Wolverines with a power-play blast, his 17th tally of the year, at 6:11 of the final frame just seconds before the team's third advantage was set to expire. Owen Power quarterbacked the unit from the point before sliding a pass over to Beniers at the top of the right circle for a one-timer that found twine. Brendan Brisson recorded the secondary assist while Power received the primary for his 24th helper of the season. It marked Beniers' team-leading ninth power-play goal of the season.
Fresh off of a game-tying goal, Michigan's penalty kill was reactivated for the fifth time at 7:22 when U-M was penalized for hooking. A solid defensive effort and Portillo's stout goaltending preserved the tie after two minutes, and the teams returned to even strength.
The Wolverines nearly took the lead before an excellent toe save stymied the team's grade-A chance. At the other end of the ice, it was Notre Dame's turn to threaten but Portillo and U-M's defensive corps kept the puck out of the net. The officials did assess a lone minor penalty to Michigan to give Notre Dame its sixth power play of the evening with 6:54 left in regulation, but for the sixth time, the U-M penalty kill unit dismissed the Irish advantage.
With just over three minutes left to play, Michigan's Dylan Duke was steamrolled by an oncoming UND forward. Play carried on without a penalty and Duke's man scored a rebound goal to put Notre Dame ahead 2-1 while the U-M freshman was still recovering on the ice.
U-M's maize-clad skaters pressured with an empty net in the game's closing minutes but failed to find a late equalizer, dropping their regular-season finale by a narrow 2-1 margin. Michigan outshot Notre Dame 32-28 and scored the game's lone power-play goal to go 1-3 while the Irish finished 0-6 on the man-advantage. With the loss, UND secured a sweep in the season series.
With a pair of losses on the weekend, Michigan ends the regular season in second place in the Big Ten with 51 points and will host Michigan State next weekend (March 4-6) at Yost Ice Arena for a best-of-three Big Ten Tournament quarterfinal series. Tickets are $30 per game and will go on sale to the general public Monday (Feb. 28) at 9 a.m. Game times are 7 p.m. Friday (FS2), 7 p.m. Saturday (Bally Sports Detroit) and, if necessary, 7 p.m. Sunday (FS2).
