No. 17-ranked Minnesota Duluth routed Western Michigan 7-0 on Friday in NCHC play at Amsoil Arena in Duluth. Game 2 is at 7:07 p.m. Saturday in Duluth.
The win vaulted UMD from a tie for fifth into third place in the NCHC.
Below are a pair of thumbs up from Friday’s game, plus my three stars of the night.
Thumbs up to a dominating start for the Bulldogs
A 2-0 lead for UMD may not seem like much — Dominic Toninato scored on the power play and Austyn Young scored shorthanded — but when you dig deeper, it’s easy to see how dominating UMD was in the opening 20 minutes of play Friday.
The Bulldogs attempted 31 total shots in the first period, landing 24 on the Broncos’ net. Of the 31 attempts, 21 were taken from below the top of and between the outer edges of the faceoff circles. Ten came between and below the faceoff dots.
What happened to the seven that didn’t reach the WMU net? Three were blocked and four missed the net.
On the other end, Western only attempted 13 shots. Six reached Bulldogs sophomore goaltender Kasimir Kaskisuo and two were blocked and five missed the UMD net.
Said Kaskisuo after the game about the lack of action in the first period: “I didn’t get cold out there.”
Thanks Under Armour.
Thumbs up to special teams dominance
Six combined penalties were called Friday at Amsoil. All six resulted in power plays. The Bulldogs scored on five of them.
UMD finished 4-for-5 on their power plays and not only killed Western’s lone man advantage, they scored a shorthanded goal during it to take a 1-0 lead.
Now that’s truly finishing 1-for-1 on the penalty kill.
The Bulldogs were a perfect 3-for-3 on the power play until Taylor Fleming’s hooking minor expired at 14:28 of the third period. Thankfully, Molino Griffen had taken a slashing penalty in the final five seconds of Fleming’s minor and freshman wing Parker Mackay got the Bulldogs power play back on track by scoring his first collegiate goal and UMD’s fifth special teams goal of the night.
The Bulldogs finished with 15 special teams shots on goal Friday with 12 coming during Bulldog advantages and three during the Broncos’ lone power play.
Western had just one shot on goal during the night’s six power plays. It came on their own advantage.
Good times.
Matt’s Three Stars
3. UMD freshman wing Adam Johnson: Yes, Mackay also got his first collegiate goal of the season Friday, but he only had to wait four games to get that goal. Johnson was playing in his 14th game Friday and had to hit four posts before finally putting a puck between the posts. Johnson has been phenomenal as a freshman so far. Hopefully this goal opens the floodgates for him.
2. UMD sophomore wing Karson Kuhlman: His two goals two minutes apart in the third period were the daggers. After scoring just one goal in his first 12 games this season, Kuhlman now has three in the last two games. [Insert hopeful floodgates line here.]
1. UMD sophomore goaltender Kasimir Kaskisuo: Friday was his third-straight shutout. He hasn’t given up a goal now in 230 minutes, 20 seconds. Enough said.