In a game where neither team led by more than one goal until Wolverine Kyle Connor’s empty-net goal with 16 seconds left, Michigan supplied just enough offense to eke out a 6-4 win over Mercyhurst Friday night at Yost Arena.
Entering the third period with the game knotted at four, Michigan’s Tyler Motte floated a shot over the shoulder of Lakers netminder Brandon Wildung to give Michigan the game’s fifth one-goal lead, just enough to allow Connor to ice the game with his empty-netter.
“One of my old coaches said they don’t ask how pretty, they ask how many,” said Motte of his tiebreaker in the third period. “I think that was a good example of that. It was not pretty, but I was trying to put one on net and it happens to find a way in. You know how college hockey goes. It won’t always be the pretty goals that win games. I was happy we turned things around in the third period to get the win.”
Mercyhurst took advantage of a strong performance by goaltender Wildung and capitalized on three odd-man breaks to stay in the game.
“We were maybe taking the game to them rather than letting the game come to us,” said Michigan coach Red Berenson of the odd-man rushes that benefited Mercyhurst. “I thought our defensemen got trapped on two occasions when they scored. If you don’t have support, you can’t get trapped. We have to play better defensively. We have to read the rushes better. Hopefully, we will learn a lot from this game.”
Of the two-on-one odd-man breakouts, Mercyhurst coach Rick Gotkin commented, “For us, it’s just trying to get pucks behind guys. We have to work to play at their pace, and I think we adjusted just fine.”
Entering the season, Michigan knew full well that to succeed it had to get improved goaltending. Wolverines netminder Steve Racine made 26 saves, but was outdone by Wildung, who stopped 41 of the 46 shots he faced.
“Brandon Wildung has been great for us,” said Gotkin. “I don’t think he gets as much credit as some other goaltenders in the country. Last year, he was a big part of our run to the championship game in our league. He’s played well this year. He clearly gave us more than a chance. He did a great job. You couldn’t ask for more than what Brandon did tonight.”
“I thought he played good,” said Berenson of Racine’s 26-save performance. “He didn’t play great. I can’t tell you there were bad goals, but any goalie will look at giving up four goals and say, ‘I should have got that one or could have got that one.’ ”
Boo Nieves, Connor, Tony Calderone, and Cooper Marody scored the goals that put Michigan in position for Motte’s and Cooper’s finishing touches. Kyle Cook, Josh Lannon, Jonathan Charbonneau and Lester Lancaster hit the score sheet with goals for Mercyhurst.
Michigan (1-0-0) and Mercyhurst (3-2-0) close out their two-game weekend set with a late afternoon contest on Sunday.
“We’ll talk about things, whether it’s our defensemen pinching and not reading the rush, whether it’s the backchecking of our forwards,” Berenson said of Sunday’s rematch. “Our faceoffs have to be better. Our penalty killing has to be better and our power play has to be better. We’ll have lots to talk about, and I’m glad we have a day (in between games).”
