Nov. 26, 2011
Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. – Notre Dame saw its 11-game unbeaten streak (8-0-3) come to an end on Saturday night as the Lake Superior State Lakers handed the Irish their first loss since Oct. 15, a 5-2 decision in front of 1,998 at Taffy Abel Arena.
One constant for Notre Dame all season long has been the penalty killing. Lake Superior was able to solve the Irish as they scored three power-play goals on four chances. The last time they gave up three power-play goals in a game was in the Frozen Four last April against Minnesota-Duluth.
Kyle Jean scored twice on the power play and Kellen Lain had one while Domenic Monardo and Zach Trotman scored at full strength. Notre Dame got one goal from Bryan Rust and a power-play goal from Billy Maday in the loss.
The Irish had plenty of chances in the game as they out shot Lake Superior, 29 to 20. Goaltender Kevin Kapalka finished with 27 saves on the night while Mike Johnson had 10 saves in 29:59 and Steven Summerhays finished with five in 30 minutes of relief in the Notre Dame goal.
The loss dropped the second-ranked Irish to 10-3-3 on the season and 7-2-3 in the CCHA; good for 24 points in league play and first place in the conference. The 13th-ranked Lakers improve to 10-4-2 overall and 6-3-1-1 in the CCHA.
An omen of things to come came in the first 10 seconds of the game as defenseman Stephen Johns was called for interference off a face off in the Notre Dame zone.
The Lakers would capitalize at 1:37 as Jean scored his sixth goal of the season as he banged a third rebound past a sprawling Johnson in the Irish goal. Trotman fired a shot from the right point and Johnson made the initial stop. Monardo took a whack at the loose puck and Johnson made that stop but Jean lifted the third chance into the net. The power-play goal was the first given up the Irish since Nov. 11 as they had killed off nine straight chances.
Notre Dame tied the game at the 5:50 mark of the first when Rust scored his fifth of the season on a deflection in the slot. The goal was the sophomore right wing’s fourth in as many games. Riley Sheahan moved the puck to the left point to Sean Lorenz who fired the shot on goal. Rust got his stick on it and the puck appeared to go off a Laker defender who was battling Anders Lee in front.
Monardo picked up his second point of the period at 12:20 when he gave Lake Superior a 2-1 lead with his sixth goal of the season. The junior right wing took a pass from Stephen Perfetto in the left circle and snapped a shot past Johnson, beating the Irish goaltender inside the far post, giving the Lakers the one-goal lead after 20 minutes.
Lake Superior scored its second power-play goal of the game just 2:08 into the second period to take a 3-1 lead. Left wing Nick Partland skated the puck through the left circle and fired a low shot that Johnson saved off his left pad. The rebound ended on Lain’s stick at the right post and he tucked it in for his third goal of the season.
The Irish finally broke through on their fourth power-play chance of the game as they cut the lead to 3-2 with six minutes gone in the middle period. Patrick Gaul moved the puck to Jeff Costello as he raced over the blue line. Costello fed Maday in the slot and he snapped a shot past Kapalka’s glove hand for his fifth of the year.
Just as they did the entire game, the Lakers answered, restoring the two-goal lead at 9:59 of the period when Trotman blasted a shot from the right point that Johnson failed to stop. That goal sent the junior goaltender to the bench with sophomore Steven Summerhays taking over between the pipes.
The Laker lead would go to 5-2 at 13:39 of the third period as Jean collected his second goal of the night on the power play as Lake Superior made it 3-for-3 with the man-advantage. Defenseman Kyle Haines rifled a shot from the right point that Jean was able to deflect over Summerhays and under the cross bar for his seventh of the year.
The Irish return home for a weekend series with Northeastern on Dec. 2-3. Game time both nights at the Compton Family Ice Arena is 7:05 p.m.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 3 - F#3/#2 Notre Dame (10-3-3/7-2-3-0) 1 1 0 - 2#14/#13 Lake Superior (10-4-2/6-3-1-1) 2 2 1 - 5
Scoring First Period: LSSU: Kyle Jean 6 (Domenic Monardo, Zach Trotman), PPG, 1:37; ND: Bryan Rust 5 (Sean Lorenz, Riley Sheahan), 5:50; LSSU: Monardo 6 (Stephen Perfetto, Dan Radke), 10:02.
Penalties: ND: 1 for 2 minutes; LSSU: 3 for 6 minutes.
Second Period: LSSU: Kellen Lain 3 (Nick McParland, Fred Cassiani), PPG, 2:08; ND: Billy Maday 5 (Jeff Costello, Patrick Gaul), PPG, 6:00; LSSU: Trotman 6 (Ben Power), 9:59.
Penalties: ND: 1 for 2 minutes; LSSU: 1 for 2 minutes.
Third Period: LSSU: Jean 7 (Kyle Haines, Colin Campbell), PPG, 13:39.
Penalties: ND: 1 for 10 minutes; LSSU: 1 for 2 minutes.
Shots On Goal:Notre Dame 10 - 13 - 6 - 29Lake Superior State 10 - 6 - 4 - 20
Goaltender Saves:ND: Mike Johnson (29:59) 8 - 2 - x - 10 Steven Summerhays (30:01) x - 2 - 3 - 5LSSU: Kevin Kapalka (60:00) 9 - 12 - 8 - 26
Power Plays:ND: 1 for 5LSSU: 3 for 4
Attendance: 1,998