March 13, 2011
Notre Dame, Ind. – Junior center Fred Cassiani scored his second goal of the night at 7:40 of the third period to give Lake Superior a 4-3 lead and freshman goaltender Kevin Kapalka made it stand up as the Lakers handed Notre Dame a 4-3 loss in game two of the best-of-three playoff series on Saturday night. The Lake Superior win evens the series at one game each and sets up a third and deciding game at 7:05 p.m. on Sunday, March 13 at the Joyce Center.
Cassiani’s goal closed out a Lakers’ rally that saw them bounce back from a 2-0 first-period deficit and a 3-2 Irish lead in the second period. Besides Cassiani’s two goals, Lake Superior got single goals from Kellan Lain and Chad Nehring in the contest.
Notre Dame was able to build the 2-0 lead on goals by T.J. Tynan and Nick Larson and Calle Ridderwall broke a 2-2 tie to give the Irish their second lead in the middle stanza.
The loss drops the eighth-ranked Irish to 22-11-5 overall while Lake Superior is now 13-16-9 as the teams head into Sunday’s series deciding third game.
“I’ve always said that a two-goal lead is the worst lead to have in hockey,” said Irish head coach Jeff Jackson.
“It’s just enough to let them come back in the game, which they did, and just enough for your team to relax enough to allow them to come back. They (Lake Superior) played well; they played hard and they played desperate. We played really well for the first 15 minutes and then penalties took us out of our game. Those back-to-back penalties allowed them to get some life which they did when they scored on the second one.”
The two teams traded chances in the opening minutes of the first period before the Irish scored twice in a span of 1:20 with Tynan scoring his 21st of the season at 9:12.
Defenseman Stephen Johns took the puck away from a Lake Superior player in his own zone and went tape-to-tape with a pass to right wing Bryan Rust from deep in his zone to center ice. Rust carried the puck in to the Laker zone and when the defenseman stepped up to play him, he slid it ahead to Tynan coming down the slot. The freshman center outwaited Kapalka and snapped a shot past him inside the right post to give the Irish a 1-0 lead.
Notre Dame’s fourth line that had some great chances all weekend capitalized on one of them just 1:20 later at 10:32 with Larson getting his 10th of the season on a tip-in from the top of the crease.
Hard work by right wing Mike Voran set this goal up as he took the puck in the left wing corner and skated up the boards to toward the blue line before cutting to his left towards the slot. As he fired the puck, Larson was moving in front of Kapalka where he got his stick on Voran’s shot, redirecting it past Kapalka for a 2-0 lead.
That’s when the penalties hit as David Gerths was first called for holding at 14:24 and then, after driving to the net and going down as he shot, was whistled for charging the goaltender at 16:41. During that penalty kill, the Lakers were able to get on the scoreboard as Lain got his fourth of the season at 18:37.
With a faceoff in the right wing circle in the Notre Dame zone, Lain won a draw that Kyle Jean controlled and moved back to defenseman Kyle Haines. The left shot blue liner moved to the center point where he fired a shot that hit an Irish defenseman and was then redirected by Lain past Mike Johnson to make it a 2-1 game.
The Irish out shot the Lakers 15-13 in the first period as the teams combined for 28 shots on goal.
Lake Superior would tie the game at 16:07 of the second period as Cassiani recorded his first of the night and fifth of the season off assists to Domenic Monardo and Jean who kept the play alive in the left corner and fed Monardo behind the net. The sophomore right wing passed in front to Cassiani in the slot who one-timed a shot past Johnson to make it 2-2.
The tie lasted for 23 seconds as Ridderwall put Notre Dame back ahead, 3-2, at 16:30 with his 13th goal of the season. With the Lakers on the attack, right wing Ryan Guentzel picked up a loose puck in the Irish zone along the boards and hit Ridderwall in the neutral zone. The senior drove down the right side and was able to get a shot on Kapalka the broke through his pads and into the net to give the Irish a one-goal lead.
Lake Superior would tie the game at 18:55 of the second when Nehring beat Johnson for his eighth of the season to sent the teams into the second intermission with the score even at 3-3.
That set up Cassiani for the game winner in the third. Cassiani won a faceoff that Lain directed back to the blue line to Zach Trotman who fired a shot on goal. Johnson made the stop but Cassiani was there to tuck it home for his sixth of the season and give the Lakers the 4-3 lead.
From there, Kapalka slammed the door on the Irish offense. Notre Dame would get two power play chances late in the period, but could not score. The freshman netminder had 37 saves in the game, including 15 in the third stanza to seal the win.
“He’s a good goaltender,” said Jackson.
“He’s on the all-rookie team and he’s the reason they had success in the second half of the season. It’s going to be a challenge tomorrow night. When you get that kind of goaltending, it makes it difficult. We have to do a better job of taking advantage of our opportunities.”
On the night, the teams traded 79 shots with Notre Dame having the advantage, by a 40-39 margin.
Johnson finished with 35 saves as his six-game unbeaten streak (5-0-1) since Jan. 22 came to an end.
Despite the loss, Jackson believes that his team will be ready for game three on Sunday.
“I told them that it’s a best of three for a reason. We worked for the opportunity to play at home and we have to take advantage of it,” said Jackson.
“We need that sense of urgency that we get when we play Miami or when we play Michigan. This is the most important game of the season. Lake State plays hard and they play well. They defend their end well and they score timely goals. We made some mistakes that cost us tonight.”
This is the 18th season that the Irish have participated in the CCHA playoffs. It will be the eighth time that Notre Dame will have to go to a third game in a playoff series and they are 5-2 in those games. The last time occurred in 2008 when the Irish downed Ferris State, two games to one, winning game three by a 2-1 score.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 3 - FLake Superior State (13-16-9) 1 2 1 - 4#8/#8 Notre Dame (22-11-5) 2 1 0 - 3
Scoring First Period: ND: T.J. Tynan 21 (Bryan Rust, Stephen Johns), 9:12; ND: Nick Larson 10 (Mike Voran, Shayne Taker), 10:32; LSSU: Kellan Lain 4 (Kyle Haines, Kyle Jean), PPG, 18:37.
Penalties: LSSU: 1 for 2 minutes; ND: 2 for 4 minutes.
Second Period: LSSU: Fred Cassiani 5 (Domenic Monardo, Jean), 16:07; ND: Calle Ridderwall 13 (Ryan Guentzel), 16:30; LSSU: Chad Nehring 8 (Tyson Hobbins, Lain), 18:55.
Penalties: LSSU: 2 for 4 minutes; ND: 1 for 2 minutes.
Third Period: LSSU: Cassiani 6 (Zach Trotman, Lain), 7:40.
Penalties: LSSU: 2 for 4 minutes; ND: 0 for 0 minutes.
Shots On Goal:Lake Superior State 15 - 15 - 9 - 39Notre Dame 13 - 12 - 15 - 40
Goaltender Saves:LSSU: Kevin Kapalka (60:00) 11 - 11 - 15 - 37ND: Mike Johnson (58:56) 14 - 13 - 8 - 35
Power Plays:LSSU: 1 for 3ND: 0 for 5
Attendance: 2,859 (sellout)