Nov. 25, 2011
Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. – Junior goaltender Mike Johnson made 29 saves and Notre Dame got goals from four different players as the Irish ran their current unbeaten streak to 11 games (8-0-3) with a 4-1 win over Lake Superior State Friday night. The game was played at Lake Superior’s Taffy Abel Arena in front of a crowd of 1,806.
Nick Larson, Robbie Russo (ppg), Bryan Rust and T.J. Tynan scored for Notre Dame while the Lakers lone goal came off the stick of Nick McParland.
Johnson was stellar in goal for the Irish; especially in the second period when he stopped all 15 shots he faced on the way to the 29-save night. Lake Superior’s Kevin Kapalka made 26 stops for the Lakers. The win extended Johnson’s personal unbeaten streak to nine games (6-0-3).
The second-ranked Irish are now 10-2-3 overall and 7-1-3-0 in the CCHA, good for 24 points and the win puts them back in first place in the conference. Lake Superior, ranked 13th nationally, falls to 9-4-3 overall and 5-3-1-1 in the CCHA.
Notre Dame got on the scoreboard first at the 3:16 of the opening period on Larson’s second goal of the season that was set up by strong play in the neutral zone. Defenseman Sam Calabrese broke up a Lake Superior rush in front of the Irish bench on the right boards. He moved the puck ahead to Kevin Nugent who spotted Larson racing down the left side. Larson grabbed the cross rink pass at the Laker blue line and drilled a wrist shot over Kevin Kapalka’s glove hand and under the cross bar for a 1-0 lead.
The lead lasted just 20 seconds as the Lakers answered back at 3:36. Defenseman Kyle Haines threw the puck behind the net to Colin Campbell who spotted McParland camped in front. The junior left wing wasted no time in depositing the puck behind Irish goaltender Mike Johnson for his team-best eighth goal of the season to even the score at 1-1.
The Irish would score twice in the second period to build the lead to 3-1.
Just 1:33 into the middle period, Notre Dame would get on the board via the power play with Russo doing the honors, beating Kapalka with a slapshot from the slot for his third of the year. Riley Sheahan controlled the play at the left point and moved it down the boards to Wuthrich. The freshman right wing caught Russo moving into the slot and put a perfect pass on the rookie defenseman’s stick and he hammered it past Kapalka to make it 2-1.
Notre Dame’s third goal came off a face off in the Lake Superior zone in the right circle. T.J. Tynan won the draw to the right boards where Rust picked it up. He fed it back to Sean Lorenz on the left point. Lorenz’s shot was wide of the goal but went off the backboards to Rust on the right side. Rust flipped the puck over Kapalka at 12:03 for his fourth of the season and third in as many contests.
While Johnson stopped all 15 shots he faced in the second, his biggest save came arly in the third period. The Irish turned the puck over inside their blue line and the puck went to Stephen Perfetto who had a two-on-none break that the junior goaltender snuffed out with a pad save at the top of his crease.
Notre Dame followed that up with the only goal of the third period, as Tynan picked up his fifth of the year at 8:07 when he converted a pass off the right boards from Anders Lee, snapping a shot from the slot past Kapalka’s blocker to make it a 4-1 game. Shayne Taker picked up the second assist on the play.
For the night, the two teams traded 30 shots on goal. Notre Dame was 1-for-3 on the power play and Lake Superior was 0-for-1.
The Irish have had their way versus the Lakers since December of the 2005-06 season. In the last 18 meetings, Notre Dame is 14-1-3 against Lake Superior.
The two teams close out the Thanksgiving weekend series at Taffy Abel Arena on Saturday night. Game time is 7:05 p.m.
IRISH NOTES…Notre Dame now has 10 wins on the season and 10 different players have scored game-winning goals for the Irish … the 11-game unbeaten streak is the longest for the Irish since a 13-game unbeaten streak (10-0-3) from Dec. 11, 1968 to Jan. 20, 1969….the win improved the Irish to 4-1-3 on the road this season and also 4-1-3 against ranked teams this season.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 3 - F#3/#2 Notre Dame (10-2-3/7-1-3-0) 1 2 1 - 4#14/#13 Lake Superior (9-4-2/5-3-1-1) 1 0 0 - 1
Scoring First Period: ND: Nick Larson 2 (Kevin Nugent, Sam Calabrese), 3:16; LSSU: Nick McPartland 8 (Colin Campbell, Kyle Haines), 3:36.
Penalties: ND: 0 for 0 minutes; LSSU: 1 for 2 minutes.
Second Period: ND: Robbie Russo 3 (Austin Wuthrich, Riley Sheahan), PPG, 1:33; ND: Bryan Rust 4 (Sean Lorenz, T.J. Tynan), 12:03.
Penalties: ND: 1 for 2 minutes; LSSU: 1 for 2 minutes.
Third Period: ND: Tynan 5 (Anders Lee, Shayne Taker), 8:07.
Penalties: ND: 1 for 10 minutes; LSSU: 1 for 2 minutes.
Shots On Goal:Notre Dame 11 - 10 - 9 - 30Lake Superior State 9 - 15 - 6 - 30
Goaltender Saves:ND: Mike Johnson (60:00) 8 - 15 - 6 - 29LSSU: Kevin Kapalka (60:00) 10 - 8 - 8 - 26
Power Plays:ND: 1 for 3LSSU: 0 for 1
Attendance: 1,806