Friday, February 5, 2016

#5 Michigan 2, Michigan State 3

1st period

No scoring

2nd period

Cox goal, Michigan State

UM 0 MSU 1 EV 10:41 Assists: penalty shot

I can’t remember GBGAing a penalty shot goal before, but it fits in with how strange a game this ended up being. Cox gets the puck in the neutral zone off a nice stretch pass that puts him behind two defenders, and while Werenski starts to close in he then does this.

If you’re wondering why there was a penalty shot when the puck still ended up on net, read the third bullet below. (Also, though Racine had to make a save, the puck wasn’t shot; it rolls on net from the position pictured above.)

It looks like Cox is going to shoot from his off foot, and Racine’s in good position to stop this.

He then executes a really nice toe-drag to get the puck to his backhand. Racine has to get his leg pad down and shifts his weight to Cox’s left.

Cox pulls it back across to his forehand; this gets Racine to his left, which opens up the five-hole long enough for Cox to get the shot he was looking for.

[Things get better after THE JUMP]

MOTTE GOAL, MICHIGAN

UM 1 MSU 1 EV 16:53 Assists: Boka

State gets one final shot on net in the waning seconds of a powerplay, and Racine sends the rebound to the corner. Boka boxes out and snaps a shot off the area where the glass meets the boards. It goes airborne and clears the zone.

Just then, Motte’s penalty expires and he finds himself out of the box and on a breakaway.

Motte has the puck on his forehand, and Hildebrand is in good position to stop such a basic shot.

Motte knows this, and it’s done to set up this move; he pulls the puck across enough to make it look like he’s going to his backhand, but the puck never gets past the midpoint between his skates. Hildebrand is now frozen; at first he’s square to Motte, then he has to shift slightly to anticipate the backhanded shot…

…that isn’t coming, which then requires Hildebrand push the other direction. Motte pulls the puck back to his forehand and snipes one, hitting under the crossbar near the top corner outside Hildebrand’s just-barely-dipped arm.

3rd period

MOTTE GOAL, MICHIGAN

UM 2 MSU 1 EV 09:03 Assists: Compher & Connor

Connor walks a puck up the boards before turning and passing behind the net to Compher. Compher spins and skates toward the goaltender’s left. Note the MSU defender in the upper right corner pointing out assignments; he has noticed Motte at the top of the zone.

The guy circled below is the skater that pointer-guy was telling to go cover Motte so he could take Compher. The problem is that circled-guy clearly does not do this, and then pointer-guy, the dude who clearly saw Motte hovering at the top of the zone, starts to drift toward the boards as Motte charges toward the net. Compher sees this and makes the obvious pass, though it wasn’t easy; he had to fight through contact and kick the puck ahead to himself while he swam through said contact before putting a perfect backhanded pass into the slot.

Now Motte has the puck and Hildebrand has his pads up because he’s just coming unlocked from the post. Hildebrand tries to push to the middle of the net and get back into his butterfly, and though his five-hole’s open that doesn’t matter; Motte again picks a spot over Hildebrand’s blocker-side shoulder.

Cox goal, Michigan State

UM 2 MSU 2 EV 13:50 Assists: MacEachern & Draeger

State gets out on a one-on-one break with a trailer and two Michigan defenders; the shooter has no passing option, so he fires a long shot that Racine steers away, though it ends up fairly far up the boards. Draeger picks it up, and it looks like he’ll head behind the net. Compher (circled below) doesn’t skate back to the slot because he thinks he can stand up Draeger. Downing sees what Compher’s doing, notes that his d-partner (Cecconi) is draped on Draeger, and repositions himself in front of the crease.

Draeger sees Compher and cuts inside him, freeing himself a bit more from Cecconi in the process. Downing sees this and dives because…

Downing’s now out of position to check MacEachern or try to take away the passing lane to Cox. Motte’s a little late to realize that Compher being in the corner means he needs to cover the guy who’s wide open in the slot

You can see in the shot below that both guys try desperately to make up for the ground they’ve ceded, but neither is able to stop the wide-open scoring chance. I think Racine gives this one up in the six-hole (under the blocker arm and outside the body), but even with all the replay angle it’s hard to tell.

Overtime

DeBlouw goal, Michigan State

UM 2 MSU 3 PPG 03:29 Assists: Haag & Walsh

MSU has just gained the zone when they drop a pass back to the blue line. Motte sees an opportunity to knock the puck back into the neutral zone and gambles, swiping at the puck and taking himself out of the play in the process. He misses.

Haag holds the puck on his forehand like he’s going to shoot for a long time, likely trying to get one of the two highest defenders to drop to a knee to block a shot and then using that to walk around them; they don’t take the bait.

Haag has a nice option, though, as he just has to dish across to DeBlouw to get a quality scoring opportunity. I think Compher sinks a bit into the middle here to take away Haag potential pass/deflection attempt to the skater behind Compher. The downside is that, while taking away a dangerous deflection opportunity, you’re giving away a one-timer.

Compher does his best to take away the shooting lane; looks like he’s off by about an inch. Racine whiffs on it, and that puck winds up tucked just inside the post.

Saturday, February 6, 2016

Michigan State 1, #5 Michigan 4

1st period

SELMAN GOAL, MICHIGAN

MSU 0 UM 1 EV 08:10 Assists: Cecconi & Werenski

Michigan’s cycling the puck low before moving it to Werenski near the blue line. He fires a quick, heavy pass across to a pinching Cecconi. Cecconi shoots, but his shot is blocked. It falls practically straight down.

Walsh and Calderone both see the puck fall and swipe at it, but Walsh is the one who makes contact. He knocks it to the high slot.

Oh, hey, Justin Selman just happens to be there, ready to pick off the clearing attempt. Look at how he’s positioned; if you showed me this still and asked what kind of shot he’d take I’d say backhander with 95% certainty.

But there’s always that 5% chance. Selman uses the puck like a pivot point, turning on it so that he can shoot from the forehand and sweeping the puck past Hildebrand before he can get a leg pad out.

2nd period

COMPHER GOAL, MICHIGAN

MSU 0 UM 2 EV 14:00 Assists: Motte & Connor

Michigan wins a board battle while State’s trying to make a quick change, and next things you know Compher and Motte are out on a 2-on-2 rush. Compher looks like he’s going to drive the puck outside and let Motte trail, but he leaves a perfect drop pass for him instead.

Motte holds the puck out like he’s going to shoot at any moment, and the two defensemen stay in their lanes and wait. Eventually the one nearest to Motte drops to block the shot attempt that definitely looks like it’s on its way but is actually a mind-blowing pass to Compher, who’s now got a free path to the front of the net.

Compher gets the pass on his backhand and then goes to the forehand as he gets closer to the crease. Hildebrand does a nice job of taking away the five-hole; with nowhere to put the puck between the pads, Compher has to go around the pads. The benefit of cutting in with speed is that he’s able to do just that before Hildebrand can push over.

Here’s a better look at where Compher ends up compared to Hildebrand.

3rd period

SELMAN GOAL, MICHIGAN

MSU 0 UM 3 EV 01:52 Assists: Warren & Martin

State’s clogging up the neutral zone (surprise!), so Martin lifts the puck up. It hits the blue line and skitters into the offensive zone, and Warren and Allen take off.

Warren and Hoomaian end up getting tangled, and Hoomaian falls down.

Hoomaian’s fall allows Warren to win possession of the puck, but Hoomaian exacts his revenge by taking away the passing lane to Selman.

Warren holds the puck until Hoomaian’s starting to lift his stick off the ice and slides a pass under for Selman. You can see simply from where Selman and Hildebrand are positioned that this won’t end well for State. (Not that I’m faulting Hildebrand; his job is to lock down the post, and his defense’s job is to clear the crease.)

MOTTE GOAL, MICHIGAN

MSU 0 UM 4 PPG 03:06 Assists: Werenski

Michigan’s on the power play and starts with the puck in the defensive zone. Werenski carries it for a second before he spots the nation’s leading goalscorer and a massive gap between defenders.

Motte rolls over the puck, so Hildebrand has to be thinking he’s going to attempt a toe drag to his backhand.

He does this so quickly that there isn’t a non-blurry shot I can get of it, but Motte puts the blade of his stick back behind the puck and fires a strong forehanded shot just inside the post. It’s worth noting that even though Hildebrand is probably thinking backhand I didn’t see him creep to his left; it looks like he’s stationary until the shot’s away, at which point he goes into his butterfly and Motte’s shot heads just outside of his pads.

Haag goal, Michigan State

MSU 1 UM 4 PPG 12:34 Assists: Walsh & Ebbing

DeBlouw fakes a slap shot and passes to Ebbing, who quickly passes across and up to Walsh.

Walsh skates in, and the death knell here comes when he grabs De Jong’s attention. De Jong comes up to cover despite Compher’s presence, and that leaves Haag alone in front of Racine.

Racine stops the initial shot, but Haag’s in perfect position to hack at a rebound; add in that he’s unchecked and that’s tough for Racine to stop.