SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Trevor Janicke’s late third period tally lifted No. 8/9 Notre Dame to a 2-1 win over No. 2 Michigan on Senior Night at Compton Family Ice Arena (4,903/sellout) as the Irish swept the season series versus the Wolverines 4-0-0.
Hunter Strand also scored for Notre Dame, while Matthew Galajda made 31 saves to earn the victory.
With the win, the Irish improved to 25-9-0 on the year and will be the third seed in the upcoming Big Ten Tournament.
Erik Portillo finished with 26 saves in net for Michigan (25-9-1), who will finish as the No. 2 seed.
On special teams, Notre Dame was 0-for-6 on the power play, while Michigan was 1-for-3.
How It Happened
It was back-and-forth in the early going until Notre Dame was called for a too many men penalty midway through the first. But the Irish held the Wolverines without a shot on goal on the ensuing penalty kill, including two blocked shots by Jake Boltmann.
Notre Dame had a power-play chance a few minutes later but couldn’t take advantage.
Cam Burke got on the end of a Solag Bakich saucer pass for one of the best Irish chances of the period, but Portillo got a pad on it with eight minutes left in the first.
Still tied 0-0 after 20 minutes, the Irish outshot the Wolverines 11-6.
The Irish took a 1-0 lead at 7:12 of the second when Hunter Strand one-timed a cross-ice feed from Justin Janicke for his eighth goal of the season. Jack Adams earned the second assist when he got the highlight reel sequence started, picking a streaking Janicke out from the opposite side of the neutral zone.
Max Ellis had a good chance from in tight with 45 seconds left after creating a turnover but he was denied by Portillo and the Irish carried the 1-0 lead to the locker room after 40 minutes of play.
Michigan evened the game at 6:11 of the third thanks to a Matty Beniers power-play goal.
Notre Dame had another crack on the power play right after the tying goal, but despite chances by Ellis and Jesse Lansdell, it could not regain the lead.
With nine minutes left in the third, Ryder Rolston was sprung on a stretch pass but the puck rolled off his stick as he made a final move to get across the crease. Notre Dame kept the pressure up with Janicke finding Nick Leivermann in the slot a minute later, but another pad save by Portilloo kept it tied.
Then with 3:08 left in the third, Trevor Janicke slammed home a rebound following a Spencer Stastney shot for what proved to be the game-winning goal, with the second assist going to Nick Leivermann.
After matching minors were assessed with 0.2 on the clock, Notre Dame senior goaltender Conor Klaers relieved Galajda for his first career appearance in an Irish uniform.
Notes
- Notre Dame swept the season series against Michigan, 4-0-0 and was the only Big Ten team to not suffer a loss to the Wolverines.
- With Hunter Strand scoring a goal, it marked the fifth consecutive game Notre Dame got a goal from the Justin Janicke/Hunter Strand/Jack Adams line.
- With an assist, Spencer Stastney now has 17 points (5-12-17) in Notre Dame’s 17 games since Jan. 1.
- The win was the 75th of Matthew Galajda’s career to move into a tie for 12th-place on the all-time career wins list (NCAA DI men).
Next Up
- As the No. 3 seed in the 2022 Big Ten Tournament, Notre Dame will play host to a best-of-three quarterfinal series next weekend at Compton Family Ice Arena on March 4-6 (tickets).
- Specific game times, broadcast information and the opponent will be announced in the coming days.
– ND –