ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Twice tonight, Tyler Motte put the Wolverines ahead, giving Michigan a 2-1 lead in the first and then a 6-5 lead in the third, as Michigan outlasted Ohio State 8-6.
Motte registered his first career hat trick and earned a career-high five points in the effort.
“Tyler does all the little things for our team, whether it’s blocking shots or paying the price to get the puck out, penalty killing, his stamina is terrific,” said Michigan coach Red Berenson. “He’s doing all the right things for our team, and it’s good to see him rewarded.”
Motte and his linemates Kyle Connor and J.T. Compher combined for six of Michigan’s eight goals, with Connor scoring two and Compher one.
“They know what they’re doing,” said Berenson. “They know what they’ve done. They’re playing the right way. They’ve got confidence, they’ve got chemistry, and they’re leading our team.”
As has become a bit of a habit for Michigan, the Wolverines needed to rely on their impressive offense to steal a victory as the team’s overall defense left senior goaltender Steve Racine with little protection through the first 40 minutes of the game. Trailing 5-3 at the start of the third, the Wolverines used 1:22 of a five-on-three advantage to propel them to five consecutive goals in the third.
Michigan scored four unanswered goals in the first 10 minutes of the third to take a 7-5 lead.
“For two periods, I thought we played pretty well – I guess you can’t give Michigan a five-on-three,” said Ohio State coach Steve Rohlik. “It’s certainly going to be a turning point in the game. I guess we put ourselves in a bad spot.”
The game was tied 2-2 at the end of the first. The Wolverines opened the scoring on Brendan Warren’s goal at 1:45, a play right off a faceoff in the OSU zone.
The Buckeyes answered at 9:17 on Dakota Joshua’s first collegiate goal, but the tie was short-lived as Motte netted his first of the night, a pick-up of his own rebounded shot at 9:53.
Ohio State’s Tyler Lundey evened it up again at 13:26 when he capitalized on a scramble in front of the Michigan net.
In the second period, the Buckeyes outshot the Wolverines 27-16 to take that 5-3 lead into the third, with OSU’s David Gust scoring first on the power play at 1:17. Sasha Larocque gave the Buckeyes a 4-2 lead with his shot from the top of the slot at 3:30, but Connor cut the lead to 4-3 with his wraparound goal at 7:02.
At 18:46, Mason Jobst picked up his own rebound on the Ohio State power play to make it a 5-3 game.
And then things began to get even more interesting.
At 19:21 in the second, OSU’s Brendon Kearney was called for hooking and when the period ended, Josh Healey was called for roughing.
The extended five-on-three at the start of the third gave the Wolverines the fuel they needed for a comeback. Just 52 seconds in, Connor scored his second goal of the night with the two-man advantage and at 1:42, Motte scored his second five-on-four, tying the game 5-5.
At 3:35, Motte picked up his hat trick.
At 9:34, Dexter Dancs made it 7-5 and then at 16:54 – with each team down a man and Ohio State goaltender Matt Tomkins pulled to give the Buckeyes an advantage – Compher scored to give the Wolverines an 8-5 lead.
With 19 seconds left in regulation and Tomkins pulled again, Kevin Miller scored OSU’s final goal of the game.
“The third period, it’s not something you can just turn a switch on, but I think our team has some confidence in the third,” said Berenson. “They know they can come back, but we just don’t like the fact that we’re putting ourselves in that spot.”
When the final buzzer sounded, in a game that had seen seven penalties through the first 40 minutes, emotions got the best of both teams and 16 penalties were assessed following the game-ending fight, including game disqualifications for Ohio State’s Joshua and Kearney and Michigan’s Cutler Martin and Dancs.
There were 112 penalty minutes assessed in the game and 96 total shots on goal.
“We played well,” said Rohlik. “We stuck to what we needed to do there. We had lots of pressure in five-on-five hockey, but like I say, it’s a funny game and things can turn on a dime. Two penalties in whatever seconds there turned the whole game around. We battled, but we just didn’t have enough to come back after that.”
