No. 10 Arizona State’s NCAA tournament dreams are alive and well after a comeback win in overtime against No. 7 Denver to salvage the weekend. Heading into the final three weeks of the regular season, ASU is tied for second in the NCHC with 37 points, in prime position to host a first-round series and make a push for the semifinals in its first year as a member of the conference.
The Sun Devils end conference play against first-place No. 3 Western Michigan and No. 20 Omaha, who’s tied for second with ASU. But before that, the Sun Devils have a weekend series with Minnesota Duluth. While the Bulldogs are much less of a threat with 19 points in conference play, ASU can’t look too far ahead and underestimate any opponent. In the NCHC, points are far from automatic on any given weekend.
“In my opinion, Duluth is notorious for starting slow,” associate coach Alex Hicks said. “If you look at their national championship teams, they were just above .500 for most of the season, but they’re well coached and they work hard. Playing in that place is no joke, and we know what we’re going into. We’re excited to go, but we know it’s going to be a challenge.”
The Bulldogs are 10-15-1 overall and 6-10 in conference play after getting swept by Omaha last weekend. After back-to-back wins over No. 19 Colorado College and Denver, Duluth has lost three games in a row, totaling just four goals in that span. With a -0.4 goal differential at nearly 33 shots on goal per game, the Bulldogs get plenty of shots off but struggle to find the back of the net.
Points have been hard to come by for the Bulldogs as two players, senior forward Dominic James and freshman forward Jayson Shaugabay, are tied for a team-best 21 points through 26 games. With the Sun Devils leading the NCHC in blocked shots (14 per game), the Bulldogs are going to have some trouble getting pucks to the goaltender.
On the other side of the ice, Duluth has the second-worst save percentage (.886) in the NCHC. The Bulldogs' tandem goaltending of freshmen Klayton Knapp and Adam Gajan has bright futures ahead of them, but facing some of the best players in college hockey as first-year players is a tough task few would find success with.
ASU’s biggest advantage over Duluth is its special teams. The Sun Devils have the second-best power-play unit in the country (28.7%) and are facing the fifth-worst penalty kill (74.4%). However, ASU needs to stay out of the box and play solid 5-on-5 hockey, a tough task in recent weeks.
ASU’s kryptonite throughout conference play has been in the faceoff circle with a 48.3% win rate, but Duluth is only one spot in front of the Sun Devils, winning 49% of its faceoffs. ASU has shown flashes of the ability to win faceoffs consistently, and this is the weekend to continue that trend.
With six games remaining, the Sun Devils will likely need to go 4-2 in those games to keep their postseason dreams alive. A sweep this weekend is crucial with a top-5 team strolling into Tempe next weekend, but ASU is honed in on playing one game at a time.
“It’s really tight and that means we can’t take a shift off,” sophomore forward Kyle Smolen voiced. “You can’t let off the gas in any way, otherwise the teams behind you will catch up. It’s just about keeping the pedal to the metal, and we just have to keep going and playing our brand of hockey.”
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