OFFENSE

• Analysis: Michigan definitely had a quality offensive night; there also seems to be a correlation between that and playing against Wisconsin. While pucks were flying into the net at a high volume, Michigan was able to create many chances by turning a malleable Badger defense into Pritzls pretzels. The Wolverines were in and around the slot and crease almost all evening and when they weren’t Badger netminders were missing pucks and sliding everywhere. If Michigan could get a high volume on net, they were going to get plenty of goals. Even so, Nick Granowicz netted a hat trick, doubling his goal output for the season. Jack Becker had a redirect, Lambert sniped a corner (kinda), as did Jacob Hayhurst. This was an Old School Yost Shootout.

DEFENSE

• Analysis: Well. That’s a lot of attempts. Wisconsin was able to generate looks all evening and found the back of the net too often against a Wolverine defense that has been rather water-tight almost all year. Michigan is going to have a ton to clean up to be successful tomorrow evening unless they’re prepared to blister the offensive net again. While I was impressed with the backchecking and transition (something that needed improvement after last Saturday), the defensive clears were suspect, as was some of the in-zone coverage. Wisconsin has loads of offensive firepower, and Michigan is going to have to adjust a few things before tomorrow night.

[After THE JUMP: winning with special teams, Mann is Mann, and odd-man rushes pad scoring a bit]

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Yeah, that looks like a cross-check [Rapai]

SPECIAL TEAMS

• Analysis: Michigan only took two penalties, but they still gave up a man advantage goal to a solid Badger power play. Caufield has been scoring all year for Wisconsin and he tallied another tonight. Still, only giving up two power plays is very good.  
• Michigan scored not one but TWO power play goals. Jake Slaker scored six seconds into the first man-advantage for the Wolverines, tapping the puck in after a nice feed from Blankenburg. Nick Pastujov also added a garbage man slam that he kicked to his stick, all in the crease. Wisconsin’s penalty kill was dreadful coming in to the game and it is even worse heading into tomorrow night’s contest.

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He doesn’t really have bad games [Rapai]

GOALTENDING

• Analysis: Giving up four goals doesn’t seem like the best time to laud the net-minding, but Strauss Mann played very well through the first couple of periods when the game was rather tight. During the Badgers first period shooting spree, he made a number a great saves through traffic. His puck-tracking is awesome. Of the goals he surrendered, one of the could be attributed to him…and even that is a stretch. Strauss made a pad save to the edge that was returned for a goal by an unmarked forward. So, he probably could have done better with that attempt, but it would also be ideal to not leave forwards unattended below the dots. Mann is also getting a lot better with his puck-handling. When he’s given solid defense and a couple goals to work with, he’s been virtually unbeatable. 

ODD-MAN RUSHES

• Analysis: Transition opportunities played a very small role in this contest. Each team had one chance. The Badgers did create a nice look from the slot but Mann was equal to it. Morgan had a meager backhand on a 2v1 for Michigan that resulted in an easy pad save.
• Until the third period! Then, each team got a 2v1 goal within 90 seconds. In the end, neither really impacted the outcome, just the shooting and save percentages. Wild game.

FINAL CORSI NUMBERS

I had: Wisconsin 69(31), Michigan 48(22)

www.collegehockeynews.com had: Wisconsin 70, Michigan 50