On the rare chance that he screwed something up, my dad liked to say "Guess what? I did not just..." and then announce the non-brilliant thing he had, in fact, done. For example, "Guess what? I did not just paint the wrong wall blue." Along those lines, I would like to start this recap by saying, guess what? The Buckeyes did not just squander a lead and a couple of juicy power play opportunities and lose to an unranked Michigan team on home ice.
Nope. Definitely did not. Here's how it went down.
| Scoring by Period | 1 | 2 | 3 | Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michigan | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| No. 3/4 Ohio State | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
The Scarlet and Gray got off to a halfway decent start. Michigan outshot the Bucks 13-6 in the first period, but OSU outscored the visitors 1-0. Freddy Gerard buried a cross-ice pass from Carson Meyer at the 5:50 mark.
The Buckeyes had some golden chances to increase their lead. A couple of minutes after their opening goal, they went on their first power play of the game. They came up empty.
Freddy Gerard put the Buckeyes on the board in the first period with his fourth goal of the year.#GoBucks pic.twitter.com/2x2xmG77HX
— Ohio State Men's Hockey (@OhioStateMHKY) January 12, 2019
Early in the second period, OSU failed to convert on a full two-minute two-man advantage. The Bucks rang the pipe twice but could not find the back of the net. Their scoring chances largely dried up after that.
Michigan seized the opening and rallied. First, Jake Slaker sniped an unassisted equalizer past Sean Romeo. Then Will Lockwood stuffed in the go-ahead goal with 2:28 to play in the period.
At the other end of the ice the Bucks did not do much to ruffle the feathers of Hayden Lavigne. The Michigan goalie did not face a substantial amount of traffic. The Scarlet and Gray had trouble retaining the puck long enough to manufacture much sustained pressure.
The Wolverines did a commendable job of bottling up Mason Jobst. The red hot captain got only one puck to the net all night. Unfortunately, none of his teammates were able to pick up the reins and drive the Bucks to victory.
The pace ground down in the third period as Michigan worked to seal up the win. The Bucks put just four shots on net in the opening 18 minutes of the third period. They made a last ditch effort with the extra attacker in the final minute of the game. The Scarlet and Gray generated a few chances but none significantly more dangerous than what they created in the previous forty minutes. The Wolverines held on for a 2-1 win.
Michigan’s victory loosens the stranglehold OSU has had on the teams’ series of late. This is the Wolverines’ first win in the rivalry since Feb 25, 2017. The result also drops the Buckeyes to 12-5-4 overall and 5-3-3-2 in the Big Ten. Ohio State is still on top of the conference but the Bucks lead now-second place Michigan by only two points.
OSU has a shot at redemption tomorrow night. The teams resume hostilities at 7pm ET. Fans not attending the game can watch the action live on BTN or stream it via BTN2Go.
