March 5, 2010
Columbus, Ohio – Notre Dame’s 2010 CCHA playoffs got off to a slow start on Friday night as the Irish dropped a 3-1 decision to Ohio State at the OSU Ice Rink.
Mathieu Picard scored two goals while Zac Dalpe added a late insurance goal as Buckeyes snapped a 1-1 tie with a pair of third-period goals. Ohio State leads the best-of-three series, one game to none.
Sophomore Rich Ryan scored the lone goal for Notre Dame, picking up his first collegiate goal to tie the game at 1-1 in the third period.
The loss snapped a four-game CCHA playoff winning streak for the Irish and dropped Notre Dame to 13-16-8 overall while the Buckeyes move to 13-16-6 for the year. Game two of the series will be played at 7:05 p.m. on Saturday night.
The Irish out shot Ohio State, 35-28, in the game with freshman goaltender Mike Johnson making 25 saves in the game while Buckeye junior goaltender Dustin Carlson finished with 34 saves.
“It was a hard-fought game. I thought that we played well at times,” said Irish coach Jeff Jackson.
“I thought that the turning point of the game was not scoring on the 5-on-3 in the second period. We got a big goal from our fourth line, but we couldn’t sustain any energy from that. Give them (Ohio State) credit, they responded after we scored.”
The two teams battled to a scoreless tie after one period in an evenly played 20 minutes. Ohio State out shot Notre Dame, 9-8, with the Irish having two power-play chances to one for the Buckeyes.
Ohio State finally broke through on the scoreboard at the 3:37 mark of the middle period as Picard got his first of the night and third of the season. Buckeye center Patrick Schafer carried the puck into the Irish zone and lost control of the puck in the slot. Picard, following the play, backhanded the loose puck through a screen in front, beating Mike Johnson to his stick side for the only score of the period.
The Irish had three chances on the power play in the period, including a two-man advantage for 1:37 but failed to score.
Notre Dame got the equalizer at 6:58 of the third period as Ryan got his first collegiate goal when he whipped a shot over Carlson’s right shoulder. Junior right wing Ryan Guentzel fed the puck to defenseman Ian Cole who fired a shot on goal. Carlson kicked that out with the rebound ending up on Ryan’s stick in the slot where he beat Carlson.
Picard put Ohio State ahead with his second goal of the night at 9:32 of the third period for a 2-1 lead. Schafer set this one up with a perfect pass from the right boards to Picard who was all alone on the left post. Johnson had no chance to slide over to stop the shot as the senior right wing redirected it into the cage.
The Buckeyes got an insurance goal at 15:54 when Dalpe got behind the Irish defense and raced in on Johnson, snapping a wrister over his glove hand for his 20th of the season and a 3-1 lead. Peter Boyd made the pass after a Notre Dame turnover in the neutral zone.
Notre Dame would get a sixth power play in the final two minutes and pulled Johnson with 1:31 left in the game in favor of a sixth attacker. Off a scramble in front of Carlson, Kyle Palmieri knocked a loose puck down where he and Kevin Deeth took swipes at it. The puck went in the net, but the goal was waved off with referee Stephen McInchak signaling a hand pass. After a review, the call stood and from there, the Buckeyes closed the deal in the 3-1 win.
The Irish would finish the game 0-for-6 on the power play while Ohio State was 0-for-2.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 3 - FNotre Dame (13-16-8/9-12-7-2) 0 0 1 - 1Ohio State (13-16-6/10-12-6-4) 0 1 2 - 3
Scoring First Period: No Scoring.
Penalties: ND: 1 for 2 minutes; OSU: 2 for 4 minutes.
Second Period: OSU: Mathieu Picard 3 (Patrick Schafer), 3:37.
Penalties: ND: 1 for 2 minutes; OSU: 3 for 6 minutes.
Third Period: ND: Richard Ryan 1 (Ian Cole, Ryan Guentzel), 6:58; OSU: Picard 4 (Schafer, Chris Reed), 9:32; OSU: Zac Dalpe 20 (Peter Boyd), 15:54.
Penalties: ND: 0 for 0 minutes; OSU: 1 for 2 minutes.
Shots On Goal:Notre Dame 8 - 14 - 13 - 35Ohio State 9 - 12 - 7 - 28
Goaltender Saves:ND: Mike Johnson (58:47) 9 - 11 - 5 - 25OSU: Dustin Carlson (60:00) 8 - 14 - 12 - 34
Power Plays:ND: 0 for 6OSU: 0 for 2
Attendance: 737