ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Heading into the contest with Ohio State on Friday night, Michigan’s offense had tallied a remarkable 17 goals in their previous three games.
The Wolverines didn’t need any help putting more pucks in the net, but Ohio State gave them some anyway.
Another hostile crowd of 5,800 was on hand at Yost Ice Arena as Michigan (8-6, 2-1 Big Ten) was able to dismantle Ohio State’s penalty kill en route to an 8-3 victory.
Michigan dominated puck possession from the outset, but Matt Johnson was able to quiet the crowd momentarily. Taking a pass from Chad Niddery on the left hand side of the ice, Johnson walked toward the bottom of the left hand circle and zipped a shot that found its way home on the far side of the net behind Michigan goalie Zach Nagelvoort for his fourth goal of the season at the 10:04 mark.
Nagelvoort had 12 saves on the evening and junior Steve Racine, who took over in the third period, made 11 saves of his own.
Michigan would respond, however, as Zach Hyman tied the game at one with his seventh goal just 2:45 later. The junior walked into the Buckeye zone from the right, took a shot that Christian Frey was unable to handle, and a couple of Wolverines crashing the net willed the puck into the net, electrifying the home crowd.
The Maize and Blue took a 2-1 lead with 11 seconds left in the period, as J.T. Compher won a faceoff inside the Buckeye zone back to Zach Werenski. The freshman ripped a shot from the point and found its way past Frey to put the Wolverines up by one. It was Werenski’s first NCAA goal.
It would prove to be a momentum killer for Ohio State (5-9-1, 1-2-0 Big Ten).
“It was huge,” Michigan coach Red Berenson said. “Those last-minute goals are big goals. That was a big boost for us to leave the period with a goal lead after being down a goal. You didn’t know that you were going to get eight goals at the time. You knew you might have to battle to get two, so that was important.”
Period number two would be one that Buckeyes’ coach Steve Rohlik and his staff would file under the “Forget About It Completely” category.
Penalties would prove costly as OSU’s Josh Healey was sent to the sin bin for two minutes at the 4:49 mark. Travis Lynch notched his fourth goal of the year, beating Frey 32 seconds into the power play to extend his team’s lead to 3-1.
Junior captain Andrew Copp pushed the lead to three 2:22 later on his goal with helpers from Michael Downing and Tyler Motte.
The game concluded a seven-game home stand for the Wolverines, who went 6-1. Copp recognizes the chemistry that’s being formed as his team is getting on a roll.
“I think we had our backs against the wall a little bit coming home from Michigan Tech,” Copp said. “I think we’ve responded really nicely. Other than three minutes in that Penn State game [a 3-2 loss on Nov. 21], we’ve been pretty solid, so we like where we’re at and we like where we’re heading.”
Frey was taken out and sophomore Matt Tomkins was sent in following Copp’s goal. Tomkins ended his night with three saves, Frey ended his with 10, and sophomore Logan Davis had five, as he came in for relief duty later in the game.
Nick Schilkey stopped the bleeding momentarily at the 7:45 mark, as a broken play in front of the Michigan bench sprung a two-on-none for him and Darik Angeli, who took a step into the Michigan zone, dished it to Schilkey, who then walked in and went backhand to forehand before sliding past the right pad of Nagelvoort.
Copp stopped any momentum coming from the Scarlet and Gray, putting home his second of the night at the 11:44 mark.
Nick Oddo took a headbutting penalty with 5:40 remaining in the second frame that would put his team in a position it couldn’t recover from. Oddo was sent to the dressing room and the Wolverines went on a five-minute power play.
Cue the dismantling.
Alex Kile put two pucks home past Tomkins, putting the Wolverines up 7-2, Tony Calderone extended the lead to six with his second goal this season 1:11 into the final frame before Ohio State’s Anthony Greco found the net for the seventh time of the campaign, ending the scoring total for the night.
Berenson’s team has been on a roll lately since a 2-5 start, winning four in a row and six of the last seven heading into a matchup with Boston College next Saturday.
“It’s about improvement and development,” Berenson said. “I think we’ll get better as the year goes on.”
Brennan Serville and Dylan Larkin each had three assists in the game, while Motte had four of his own for Michigan. Werenski also added a pair of helpers for a three-point night.
For Rohlik, his team will look for answers after finishing the first half of the season on a sour note.
“We didn’t quit, I know that,” Rohlik said. “The one thing I ask our guys to do is give it everything they’ve got out there no matter what the score is and I think they did that tonight, but [it’s] certainly disappointing.”
