CLICK HERE for Game Recap from Kristy McNeil and other pertinent information and HERE for current Pairwise Rankings.

What just happened (TL;DR): Michigan jumped out to a two goal lead in the first period. They got close to pushing it higher all second period, but could not get the finish. In the third, the Wolverines responded well after finally giving up a goal, quickly firing back with a two goals in 15 seconds. Josh Eernisse ended with two goals. Rutger McGroarty and Ethan Edwards got the others. Jake Barczewski tallied 29 saves.

FINAL CORSI NUMBERS (www.collegehockeynews.com)

Forward Notes.

-This is a great example of a game where not all chances are created equally. The numbers above are very similar across the board. However, Michigan’s chances were much more dangerous. They also have lethal finishers who took those dangerous chances very well. In fact, for much of the second period, Kristoffer Eberly was the only one keeping Ohio State in the game. Michigan’s top two lines buzzed all period and came oh so close multiple times. Finally, the dam broke and the Wolverines put the game away.

-While the Hero Line didn’t score many goals, they may have gotten one of the biggest ones of the season. Just after their lead was cut in half and emotionally it felt like yet another Saturday Wolverines collapse, Frank Nazar made one of the plays of the year. He beat his defender around the net and fired a seed into the slot where Rutger McGroarty was fending off his defender and beat Eberly to regain Michigan’s plural goal advantage. While they weren’t filling the net all night (like usual), they created chances all night and were super close so many times. I think this line is going to stick.

-Just behind the Hero Line, the second line was just as dangerous with their chances, especially in that second period. Dylan Duke and TJ Hughes got into the dangerous areas and got tips, deflections, and shots…just didn’t get the goal. Funnily enough, it was Josh Eernisse on the third line that did most of the damage. He scooped up a loose puck in the slot and beat Eberly to open the scoring. He also swooped into the zone in the third period and beat Eberly again (after it looked like Eberly slid a bit too far off his angle) to give Michigan their final margin.

-Michigan scored eight goals on the weekend and only one goal came from the top line. It probably was the biggest in a lot of ways, albeit. However, if Michigan’s Middle Six and Defense can contribute consistently…#EyeballEmoji

Defense Notes.

-Aside from giving up four odd man rushes, Michigan’s defense was pretty good all night long. There were stretches where it seemed like Ohio State could not get into the House with the puck, let alone get a shot off. The Buckeyes aren’t the most offensively talented team, but Michigan’s back end did what it needed to do –what it consistently hasn’t done- in protecting their goaltender and limiting the dangerous chances. This was the most complete weekend performance on defense since…last season?

-After dinging Ethan Edwards last night, I’m going to give him props. He jumped into the play and scored Michigan’s delayed OMR goal. He also almost got a sweet assist late in the game on a pass to Chase Pletzke, but the shot drew iron. Ethan Edwards is very key going forward, because he would give every defensive pairing a puck rusher. If he turns in more performances like Saturday night’s, Michigan is going to be sitting pretty.

-Luca Fantilli got pretty much all of the sixth defenseman minutes. (In fact, I don’t think I saw Steve Holtz all night?). He…looked really good? On both ends of the ice…yes, I think that is the assessment. He made nice physical plays on the boards, winning pucks. He moved it well and hit Marshall Warren on a diagonal for a great chance in tight. It will be interesting to see the third pairing next weekend. My bet is on Luca.

SPECIAL TEAMS CHART

Power Play. For the competitive part of the game, Michigan only had one power play for one minute. In the third period, they were recipients of two major penalties that resulted in a couple dangerous chances, but mostly just taking six and a half minutes off the clock. This was not really a night to assess the power play.

Penalty Kill. It got a little iffy in the first period when the Wolverines were playing well, but took three penalties…give the Buckeyes a little bit of offensive life. Michigan mostly killed off those opportunities without too much going on of note. There was one short stretch where the got a little lucky when Ohio State fanned or missed a few good looks after the Wolverines couldn’t get a clear. In the end, though, they kill all seven power plays on the weekend. It’s still only those two deflected goals since the Big Ten season restarted. Pretty, pretty good!

"Get my back, and I’ll get yours?” (Bill Rapai)

GOALTENDING CHART

Notes. Jake Barczewski started in net on Saturday night. Once again, his defense mostly protected him. Once again, Barczewski rose to the challenge. He was awesome. Again, he didn’t have a ton of Hero Saves to make, but he tracked the puck well, found it on the ice, and just stayed positionally sound all evening…never really giving anything away to the Buckeyes. He probably made his save of the year, diving to his right and getting his blocker to the most dangerous chance he faced all night. Jake also had a quick reaction save on a direction-changing shot late in the second period. The shot that beat him was a corner picked around a screen by Max Montes…the only guy to score for Ohio State all weekend. Barczewski made 29 saves. That’s 66 saves on 69 shots for the weekend. Yummy.

ODD MAN RUSH CHART

Notes. This game was a lot more open than Friday night’s game. Michigan gave up 2v1s in every period. Barczewski came out to make nice saves on a couple of the rushes. The other ones resulted in chances going wide. This was not one of Michigan’s better performances defensively in transition, but they did not get burned, at least.

The Wolverines created waves of 2v1s in the first period. McGroarty and Brindley had back to back chances but could not find the net. Finally, Frank Nazar drove hard on a 2v1 and his rebound kicked out to Brindley as the third guy in the zone. He slipped a nice pass to Ethan Edwards who also trailed. Edwards fired one by Kristoffer Eberly for the eventual game-winning goal. After a night of not being able to skate super well, Michigan’s speed in transition was on display on Saturday night.

FINAL THOUGHTS

In the last couple weeks, Michigan has looked much, much better on the penalty kill. They’ve also posted several games where they’ve looked much better in the defensive end. Tonight, they did it two times in a row. Now, they’ve not only fended off late charges in a couple games in a row, but they also re-extended their lead. Jake Barczewski has had two of his best games of the year. Granted, Ohio State is not a tournament team and are a shell of what we’ve seen them in the past, but this was a huge weekend for the Wolverines in finally putting together a complete weekend. Next, they get a team that they dismantled for a game and a half before falling apart. The next challenge is showing that their dominance a couple weekends ago wasn’t a fluke. Friday at Yost on BTN-. 7pm.