ANN ARBOR, Michigan — A pair of second period power-play goals proved to be the difference as No. 14 Michigan posted a narrow 2-1 win over No. 6 Notre Dame on Friday night at the Yost Ice Arena (5,800).
After a scoreless first period, Matt Hellickson scored his first goal of the season for the Irish when he finished off a Dylan Malmquist feed just 1:35 into the second.
But the Wolverines answered with a pair of power-play goals from Jake Slaker and Nick Pastujov to take a 2-1 lead after two periods of play and neither team could find the back of the net in the third.
“I thought we played a solid road game but we certainly didn’t take advantage on he power play and that was pretty much the difference in the game,” head coach Jeff Jackson said. “We just have to prepare to try and take advantage of those situations tomorrow.”
Michigan finished 2-for-5 with the man advantage, while Notre Dame was 0-for-4 on the power play, including a 0-for-2 mark in the third period.
Cale Morris finished with 36 saves in the Fighting Irish net, while Strauss Mann made 26 stops for Michigan.
Since Notre Dame joined the Big Ten prior to the start of last season, the Irish and Wolverines have met six times with five of those games proving to be one goal decisions.
NOTRE DAME GOAL DESCRIPTION
- Matt Hellickson picked off a pass at the defensive blue line and moved quickly through the neutral zone to create a 3-on-1 chance with Dylan Malmquist and Joe Wegwerth. Hellickson dropped a pass off to Malmquist, who stickhandled in tight on Strauss Mann before giving it back to Hellickson, who finished the play off for his first goal of the season at 1:35 of the second period.
NOTES
- Notre Dame is now 2-1-0 on the road this season (3-1-1 in road and neutral site games combined).
- Over the last two seasons, the Irish are now 13-3-1 in road games (17-5-2 over the past two seasons in road and neutral site games combined).
- Sophomore defenseman Matt Hellickson has scored two of his four career goals at the Yost Ice Arena.
- Since the Irish joined the Big Ten last season, Notre Dame and Michigan have played six times with five of those meetings proving to be one-goal decisions including three games ending with a final score of 2-1.
LET’S TAKE THIS OUTSIDE
- Notre Dame and Michigan will meet at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, January 5, 2019 in an outdoor game at Notre Dame Stadium.
- The rivals will meet four days following the 2019 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic® featuring the Chicago Blackhawks and Boston Bruins, on January 1, 2019.
- Just four months after Notre Dame and Michigan met in a football game at Notre Dame Stadium that saw the Irish post a 24-17 victory, the rivalry will take to the ice in the House That Rockne Built in a game that will be televised by the NBC Sports Network.
- Tickets for the game are on sale now, visit und.com/buytickets or call 833-ND-IRISH and keep up to date with all ticketing information by following us on Twitter @NDtix.
— ND —