Notre Dame's hockey dominance of Michigan ended Saturday night in the Big Ten Tournament.
The third-seeded Irish couldn't muster enough offense to beat the second-seeded Wolverines for a fifth time this season. Michigan's 2-1 victory over Notre Dame at Yost Ice Arena in the conference tournament semifinals marked a first for the Wolverines in the 2021-22 season.
No. 8 Notre Dame (27-11-0) fell behind 1-0 at 3:46 in the second period when Matty Beniers executed a give-and-go with fellow USA Olympian Brendan Brisson. Beniers gathered a pass from Canada Olympian Kent Johnson just outside the right circle before passing to Brisson on his left. Brisson sent it right back to him and Beniers put it past Notre Dame goaltender Matthew Galajda before he could barely react.
No. 4 Michigan (28-9-1) lost its lead when Notre Dame forward Jack Adams scored his sixth goal of the season at 12:04 in the second period. Fellow graduate senior Adam Karashik, a defenseman, spun and delivered a perfect pass to Adams splitting two defenders in front of goaltender Erik Portillo.
The Adams goal was part of Notre Dame's best stretch of offensive play throughout the game. A little more than five minutes earlier, junior forward Max Ellis nearly scored Notre Dame's first goal, but Portillo stretch his left leg to deny the shot.
Michigan controlled the offensive possession for most of the night and outshot Notre Dame by a 31-20 margin. The Irish had to block 26 shots that didn't make it to Galajda too.
The Wolverines converted their offensive pressure into what became the game-winning goal at 3:59 in the third period. Defenseman Jacob Truscott passed behind the net to Beniers, who found Brisson in the right circle. Brisson quickly gathered the puck and fired it past ND junior forward Solag Bakich's block attempt to beat Galadja on his stick side.
Notre Dame didn't threaten much for the entire third period. The Irish managed just four shots in the period — which matched its first period shot total — and only two in the final 11 minutes. Even emptying the net with 1:50 remaining didn't do much beyond one shot on goal by sophomore forward Landon Slaggert and one shot wide by senior Graham Slaggert in the final minute.
“I thought we battled, we played hard and put ourselves in position to win the game but they scored the key goal in the third period,” said Notre Dame head coach Jeff Jackson. “Their top guys made the difference and scored both goals.”
Galajda saved 28 shots in defeat. Portillo only needed to save 19 shots in victory.
Michigan advances to the Big Ten Tournament championship next Saturday against either 1-seed Minnesota or 5-seed Penn State. Notre Dame will wait to learn its NCAA Tournament seeding when the 16-team bracket is revealed Sunday, March 20.
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