Friday, January 8, 2016

MSU 2, #8 Michigan 9

1st period

MSU 1 UM 0 EV 09:26 Appleton from Draeger & MacEachern

Selman comes up to the point to try and check Draeger, but he avoids Selman and skates deeper into the zone. Nieves sees this and steps up to cover.

Appleton is in the opposite faceoff circle banging his stick on the ice and Draeger obliges, passing through the empty part of the slot. 

Appleton one-times the puck and it hits Cecconi's skate, changing angles and easily beating Racine. There's nothing he can do about a deflection off of a skate that close to the net; it's also worth noting that this play is otherwise well defended.

[After THE JUMP: Jake Hildebrand stars as Devin Gardner in "Oh. Oh Wow. We Are So Sorry."]

MSU 1 UM 1 EV 12:43 Compher (4) from Connor (14) & Motte (6)

State tries to clear the puck out of their defensive zone when Motte steps to the boards and smothers the pass.

Motte's crushed as he's passing, but he manages to reverse the puck and send it to the corner for Compher.

Compher skates in slowly, moving the puck back and forth until Hildebrand (who's doing a nice job locking down the post) drops his left shoulder just a bit to block what he must think is going to be a shot at his midsection. Compher takes advantage, putting the puck over the recently vacated space above Hildebrand's right shoulder and just under the crossbar.

MSU 1 UM 2 PPG 13:46 Calderone (7) from Selman (8) &  Nieves (9)

It looks like State's strategy is to collapse around the net, which allows Michigan to pass around from the point to the high wings as they please. Werenski passes to Nieves, who almost immediately passes down low…

…to Selman. As this pass is occurring Calderone has drifted away from the high defenders and is all alone in the slot. Selman passes immediately as well.

Calderone one-times it just under the crossbar. Hildebrand is just slightly out of position to handle a shot from the slot, as he was on the post to defend against a shot from Selman and couldn't get squared to Calderon's shot.

MSU 1 UM 3 EV 14:04 Kile (6) from Nieves (10) & Selman (8)

Hildebrand moves the puck from behind his net to the corner, which happen to be the area Michigan's forecheckers have gone screaming toward. A hit results in a State player weakly playing it up the boards, and the puck is picked up by Nieves.

Nieves turns the puck up the boards and takes a couple of strides before he sees that Kile has been left all alone. Naturally, he passes.

Kile snipes the puck, hitting the high top corner. The problem for State is the gap the defender leaves between himself and Kile; there's an opportunity to step and close that gap over many seconds, but he stays far enough away that Kile has all the room he needs to shoot.

MSU 2 UM 3 PPG 15:21 Osburn from MacEachern & Appleton

Michigan has two defenders go to the corner to try and muck it up and gain possession but they don't, and as Motte loses his stick the puck is sent up the boards to the point. MacEachern, with plenty of room to either move laterally or pass across, opts to pass. Compher could have come up higher to challenge, but I don't think he would have been able to get into the passing lane, so I don't fault him for hanging lower and possibly clogging up the high cross-ice lane to the opposite wing.

None of that matters, though, as Osburn decides to one-time it. There's traffic in front of the net and Racine can't see to track the shot, at least for a fraction of a second.

That's enough, though, as the seas part and the shot is on Racine and just beats him high to the top far-side corner. Racine's pretty deep in his crease, but I don't think he could have come out further to challenge because of the location of the two players in front of him in the screen cap above.

MSU 2 UM 4 EV 17:40 Connor (13) from Compher (18) & Motte (7)

Michigan gets the puck low and shoots, but the puck is first shot is stopped. The rebound falls to the goaltender's left and is picked up by Motte, who sees Compher alone in the faceoff circle and passes to him.

Connor has gotten really, really open behind State's defense; half of the wall made up of two player in the slot have lost track of him. Compher threads a pass across. Connor takes a fraction of a second to load up his shot, and that's all the time he needs to pick his spot: top corner, near side.

MSU 2 UM 5 EV 18:23 Dancs (3) from Warren (8) & Shuart (7)

State turns the puck over in their own zone and Warren happen to be right there, flinging the puck into the neutral zone. Eventually Dancs gathers it, and we have a 2-on-2 with a covered guy trailing.

Dancs pulls the puck back like he's going to pass, but a State defender pokes at the puck and prevents it from moving.

Dancs swings his stick around and connects with the puck. Dancs' blade was also on the puck as the State skater poked at it, so it was just sitting motionless for a moment. Dancs then flips it ahead, turns a loose puck into a really weird shot attempt that Hildebrand isn't ready for. It ends up beating him five-hole.

2nd period

MSU 2 UM 6 EV 06:38 Werenski (5) from Kile (10) & Selman (9)

A State player tries to rim the puck around the boards for a teammate in the far corner and it doesn't work. Selman picks it up and carries to State's blue line where he's leveled, but not before he passes the puck ahead to Kile in the neutral zone. Kile carries it into the offensive zone and, as Nieves crosses in front of him, notices that Werenski is trailing and quite open.

Werenski shoots and beats Hildebrand on what was (I think) his softest goal the night. He came out to challenge, read the shot, and just missed on it.

MSU 2 UM 7 PPG 08:25 Connor (14) from Compher (19) & Dancs (4)

Werenski passes to Compher from Michigan's blue line and heads off for a line change, and Compher skates it into the offensive zone. He passes to Dancs.

Dancs takes a couple of strides and sees a seam to pass back to Compher.

Compher skates deeper into the zone, and he sees that the defenders on the right side are chasing and there's a big enough gap between the lower and higher defenders to pass to the opposite wing.

Connor uncorks a snap shot and just beats Hildebrand, who moved laterally and knew a shot was coming. Connor's shot is really quick and his release is extraordinary, but at this point Hildebrand was letting in goals that I've never seen him allow before.

3rd period

MSU 2 UM 8 EV 14:45 Motte (13) from Connor (15) & Compher (20)

Continuing with our theme of good breakouts, Compher passes to Connor in the neutral zone.

Connor pulls the puck from inside the defender to outside and skates around him and deep into the offensive zone. He sees a gap between defenders to pass through…

…and connects with Motte, who's ready with a one-timer that isn't even close to being stopped by Minney. (Hildebrand had finally been pulled.) Minney's understandably concerned with locking down the post in the case Connor shoots, but he's not fast enough to get across to stop a one-timer.

MSU 2 UM 9 PPG 19:13 Compher (5) from Connor (16) & Boka (5)

Michigan's on the power play thanks to some extra shoving and head punching in front of the net. Connor skates to the middle of the ice and draws a defender. He shoots just before the defender can get to him. Minnery makes the stop and the rebound shoots to the corner.

Compher reads the puck, drift just a bit lower, and releases a shot as soon as the puck's on his blade.

Saturday, January 9, 2016

#8 Michigan 6, MSU 3

1st period

UM 0 MSU 1 EV 04:27 Pavelek from DeBlouw & Gatt

State breaks the puck out of their zone to the boards near center ice. DeBlouw sees Pavelek flying through the middle of the neutral zone and backhands a pass to him.

Michigan's in the middle of a slow line change and Pavelek takes advantage, skating in all alone. He glides in and shoot, beating Racine top corner.

UM 1 MSU 1 EV 18:37 Dancs (4) from Shuart (7)

Michigan forechecks really well here, with Shuart in deep as State picks up the puck in the corner.

Shuart strips the puck and boxes out the State skater, and the other defender nearby naturally freaks and loses Dancs in order to go after Shuart. Shuart sees that he has the room needed to pass to Dancs thanks to the defender coming off of him. Dancs snaps the puck on net immediately. It's no surprise that Hildebrand isn't ready considering he had to cozy up to the post and twist to see what was going on behind the net, and the puck comes out from behind to Dancs very quickly.

2nd period

UM 2 MSU 1 PPG 01:46 Marody (8) from Werenski (9) & Nieves (11)

Nieves and Werenski are switching and Nieves actually passes too early, but he also ends up boxing out the defender that wasn't drawn aside. This gives Werenski a tiny shooting lane, and he decides that's his best option.

Werenski's shot is hard enough that there's a big rebound, and though Hildebrand is able to angle it toward the corner there's a Michigan skater there ready to pounce on it. Marody basically has the puck gifted to him, and he snipes it as soon as it's on his stick blade. Hildebrand has little chance, especially when his defense has collapsed toward the slot.

UM 3 MSU 1 EV 02:32 Downing (3) from De Jong (6) & Warren (9)

The puck goes from corner to point to point with Warren passing up to De Jong and De Jong over to Downing, who catches it on his backhand and pulls it over to his forehand.

Downing sort of chips a shot on net that flutters, and it looks like it hits Dancs' stick but just misses. Even so, Dancs may have caught Hildebrand's attention just enough to throw him off the flight of the puck.

UM 4 MSU 1 PPG 08:09 Werenski (6) from Nieves (12) & Calderone (6)

Werenski carries the puck on an arc from the faceoff circle up, and in the process an MSU defender just guesses there's going to be a shot when there isn't. He drops to the ice on a knee so Werenski skates around him and shoots into traffic.

Werenski's shot is a laser headed for the top corner, and Hildebrand can't see it because Selman is doing an excellent job screening him. (The MSU defender in front of Selman isn't making life any easier for Hildebrand.)

UM 5 MSU 1 EV 12:15 Motte (14) from Compher (21)

Motte picks up the puck off of a hit in the defensive zone and carries through the neutral zone with speed. Connor cuts in behind him, and there are two defenders bearing down on Motte; one is right on him and about to be skated by, while the other is in the faceoff circle in the screen cap below and will turn to cover Motte as he gets closer to the goaltender.

So yeah, as I was saying, the State defender turns and tries to get his stick in Motte's way.

Motte shoots it just over Hildebrand's blocker on an angle, tucking it just inside the far-side post.

UM 5 MSU 2 EV 14:09 Haag from Gatt & Draeger

Haag get the puck off of a long rebound, skating in from the boards to the top of the faceoff circle and shooting through a pretty big lane which Racine seems to have a clear view of. It's worth noting that Kile got a little twisted around as Haag carried up the boards expecting a pass to the blue line that wasn't coming, but it doesn't change the fact that this meets the "one inexplicable goal" quota for the series.

UM 5 MSU 3 PPG 19:21 Ferrantino from Draeger & Stenglein

A cross-ice feed through the slot misses and the puck ends up in the corner. It's moved to Draeger, and he passes to Ferrantino. Ferrantino takes a couple of strides before shooting.

This one isn't a great goal to give up, but it's not as bad as the last one. There were a couple of State skaters in front that may have obstructed Racine's view, but it's a bit of a soft goal.

3rd period

UM 6 MSU 3 EN 17:38 Connor (15) from Compher (22)

Both centers fall on the puck off the faceoff, but eventually Compher chops it out. The puck glides to Connor, who lifts a really, really accurate shot into the air and eventually the net. An aside: kudos to State for pulling the goalie with multiple minutes left, as research shows this is a more effective end-of-game strategy than waiting until there's a minute left to pull him.

Notes:

So. That happened. Finally. Michigan actually swept a series, and they didn't just squeak by on Saturday. In a game where they had an opportunity to let the tide, which had turned against them, pull them under, they didn't. Instead, Michigan's offense executed a performance without a recent parallel in their shelling of 2015 B1G Player of the Year Jake Hildebrand.
By the midpoint of Friday's second period Hildebrand, who was left in to take a seven-goal beating, was waving at pucks and letting in goals I never expected to see him allow. Here was a goaltender who was so consistently excellent last season he could make a game filled with heavy trapping still feel like an accomplished win, but as State's defensive depth has thinned he seems to have taken so much of the brunt of it to the point where he's not even the same player anymore. Stop me if you've heard that one before.
I reached out to Jeremy Dewar of The Only Colors to try and get a feel for whether this weekend was typical or an anomaly, and he said that State's defense is so bad they've made Hildebrand look worse than he is, and without their defense holding water and strong goaltending they've become a rudderless mess.
I'm loathe to call things early, (especially after a sweep of a team that' tied for 53rd in PairWise) but this year's Michigan team is starting to separate itself from those of the last few seasons. The forwards have gotten more involved defensively, and though the defense (and certain defensemen) can be prone to frustrating mistakes the overall level of defensive play has risen to something tolerable for conference play. That's an accomplishment regardless of opponent and should serve Michigan well in a league where half of the teams will earn you an RPI quality win bonus and the other half must be swept lest you tumble in the PairWise standings.