Michigan
31-9-1
Quinnipiac
32-7-3
Michigan Withstands Third-Period Frenzy, Punches Ticket to Frozen Four
3/27/2022 11:04:00 PM | Ice Hockey
» Owen Power recorded four assists to drive the Michigan offense from the back end.
» Senior Nolan Moyle scored two goals to clinch his fourth career multi-goal game.
» Thomas Bordeleau scored one goal and assisted on two more for a three-point night.
ALLENTOWN, Pa. -- A dominant performance through two periods was threatened by a relentless Quinnipiac attack in the third period of the Midwest Regional Final on Sunday (March 27) at the PPL Center. Despite surrendering four goals in the final frame, the top-seeded University of Michigan ice hockey team held on in a 7-4 win to punch its ticket to the 2022 Frozen Four.
Michigan's upcoming appearance in the final four, its 26th, will break a tie with Boston College for most all-time among men's division one programs.
Erik Portillo was stellar across much of the game for Michigan, keeping the team in control amidst immense pressure throughout the first and second periods before running into trouble when QU ramped up its offensive attack in a high-scoring, wild final period. The sophomore ended the game with 30 saves on 34 shots, putting the finishing touches on his 31st win of the season by turning aside a flurry of grade-A chances before U-M netted a pair of empty-net goals for a 7-4 victory.
A goal from senior forward Nolan Moyle just 33 seconds into the game gave the Wolverines a blistering start. Defenseman Owen Power took the first whack at the puck near the blue paint after Michigan had pushed the play in deep on the first shift. After fluttering up near the goaltender's ear, the puck fell to the ice in the low slot and onto the blade of Moyle, who quickly flipped the rebound opportunity into the top of Quinnipiac's net to put Michigan ahead, 1-0. Power earned the primary assist with his shot attempt while Jimmy Lambert collected the secondary helper.
Luke Hughes, who leads the nation in goals by a defenseman, carved through the right circle at 14:36 to force Quinnipiac's defensive structure to collapse. Sensing Lambert drive to the left post with his stick on the ice, Hughes uncorked a crafty, precise backhand pass that found his teammate's tape and ended up in the back of the net. Lambert's fifth tally of the season put Michigan up 2-0 while Hughes' assist bumped his season point total up to 39, further extending his program record for freshmen defensemen.
After 20 minutes of blazing, end-to-end play, the Wolverines carried a two-goal lead into the dressing room at the PPL Center. Each team had 14 shots on goal and eight faceoff wins in the opening frame, while Michigan held a narrow edge over the Bobcats in blocked shots (7-6).
Three minutes into the second period, Portillo made a pair of massive saves in quick succession, his 17th and 18th of the contest, to help his team dismiss a grade-A scoring opportunity from Quinnipiac.
The first penalty of the game was drawn by Lambert while driving the net at 5:37, a hooking call on QU that gave Michigan its first power play to bring out the nation's third-ranked unit. U-M's lead was extended to three less than half a minute later when Thomas Bordeleau ripped a low shot into the back of the net from the bumper position on the power play. Power received the secondary assist for quarterbacking the unit from the top of the zone while Brendan Brisson earned the primary helper from the flank after sending a quick pass to his classmate, Bordeleau, in the slot.
Michigan's penalty killers were called into action for the first time with 5:44 remaining in the second period after Portillo was whistled for interference when working behind his net to stymie a dump-in from Quinnipiac. Bending without threat of breaking, Michigan's PK unit finished off the first Bobcat power play and returned to even-strength.
After dominating play for nearly five minutes, Brisson was penalized for tripping with 1:19 left in the second stanza to send the Michigan penalty killers back to the ice.
Ten seconds into the second QU power play of the period, the Wolverines won a puck battle on the half-wall before captain Nick Blankenburg led an odd-man rush out of the defensive zone and up the ice. Blankenburg protected the puck and leaned into the lone Bobcat as he skated toward the right post with Garrett Van Wyhe alongside him stride-for-stride on the left flank. After the captain muscled an attempt into the blue paint, Van Whye was there to finish off the play and put U-M ahead 4-0. The goal was Michigan's eighth shorthanded tally of the season, which marks the most for the program since 2010-11.
With one period left to play and a bid to the Frozen Four on the line, Michigan entered its locker room with a 4-0 lead and a 23-20 edge in shots on goal. QU had jumped out to a 20-15 advantage in the faceoff dot while Michigan's special teams units continued to make a difference, netting one power-play goal along with a shorthanded goal in the middle period to extend the team's lead.
The Bobcats buried their first goal 4:12 into the final frame when a lengthy shift in the Michigan zone culminated with a point shot through traffic that found its way off of a defenseman's skate and into the net, cutting the deficit to 4-1.
Play settled down for several minutes before a U-M defender caught an edge and turned the puck over in the defensive zone; QU was able to take advantage of the lapse when a two-on-one situation resulted in a pass through the crease that was banged into the net with 10:59 left to make it 4-2.
Momentum continued to shift in Quinnipiac's favor as the Bobcats cycled the puck down low and pressured Portillo's net in the Michigan end. With 8:58 left in regulation, QU finished off a play from the point by scoring to make it 4-3.
Lambert was called for hooking while forechecking near the QU goal line with 7:43 left to play, which gave the Bobcats another opportunity on the power play with the ice shifted in their favor. After two minutes, the teams returned to five-on-five play with Michigan's one-goal lead still intact.
In advance of a faceoff in the Michigan zone, Quinnipiac chose to pull their goaltender with 3:56 left. After 15 seconds of pressure from the Bobcats, Mark Estapa won a puck battle and moved it up the ice to Bordeleau, who broke the full-ice press with a crisp pass to fifth-year senior Michael Pastujov, all alone with an empty cage. Pastujov deposited the puck in the empty net to give Michigan a 5-3 lead with 3:37 left.
Moyle tallied his second goal of the game with an empty-net marker for the Wolverines that gave Michigan a 6-3 lead with 1:23 on the board. Power picked up the lone helper to clinch a three-assist playmaker.
Quinnipiac was penalized for slashing on Moyle's goal, so the U-M power play unit took to the ice with a three goal lead. Owen Power weighed his options at the point before moving the puck over to Bordeleau in the slot. Rather than taking the one-timer, Bordeleau faked the shot, stopping his blade to deflect the pass between his legs and find Brisson for a one-time blast that made it 7-3 with 35 seconds left in regulation.
Not willing to go quietly, the resilient Bobcats tallied one last goal at even-strength to make it 7-4 with 22 seconds remaining, and that score would hold up as the game's final count.
The team streamed off the bench as the buzzer sounded to celebrate punching its ticket to Boston, Mass. for the program's 26th all-time Frozen Four appearance, a new NCAA record.
In two weeks, the Wolverines will travel to TD Garden to face off against third-ranked Denver on Thursday (April 7) at 5:00 p.m. ET. The Pioneers defeated Minnesota-Duluth on Saturday (March 26) in the Loveland, Colo. regional final to earn the program's first bid to college hockey's final foursome.
NCAA All-Regional Team
D - Luke Hughes - U-M
D - Owen Power - U-M
F - Brendan Brisson - U-M
F - Garrett Van Wyhe - U-M
F - Ethan de Jong - QU
G - Erik Portillo - U-M
MOP - Erik Portillo - U-M
