(Photo: Gabrielle Mercer/WCSN)
Despite a fast start, Arizona State left Matthews Arena winless on the weekend.
No. 17 Northeastern defeated the Sun Devils 6-1 on Saturday night, holding the Arizona State offense without a goal for the subsequent 52 minutes following the first period goal.
In the first period of each game in Boston, head coach Greg Powers’ team allowed a combined seven goals, as opposed to just five in the second and third periods.
“We scored the first goal, which was nice, but we couldn’t follow it up, you know, we took another penalty and they got a penalty goal,” redshirt sophomore forward and team captain Dylan Hollman said. “I think it just comes down to being ready to play and I think we’ve got to take more pride in coming out of the gate and jumping on them, not only jumping on them early but following that up.”
Penalties again plagued the Devils throughout Saturdays contest and have continued to be a reoccurring theme in the early going.
Hollman believes that the learning period is over and that his team needs to start tightening down on the repeated violations.
“I think early on it was maybe a little but of a lack of understanding, but I think we spent a lot of time going over the rules and even watching the separate videos and stuff,” Hollman said. “I think at this point there is no more excuse that we can blame it on the rules, it just comes down to discipline.”
There were opportunities for the Sun Devil offense throughout the contest – they were on the power play eight different times – but couldn’t convert on any advantage. Northeastern, however, converted on two of its seven chances.
Regardless, Powers doesn’t think the power play was lacking.
“I thought our power play was ticking it around really well,” Powers said. “Let’s be honest, that kid, you know, [Ryan] Ruck, in the first two periods, he had five, six really good saves. If we get one, two of those in and they hit the back of the net, it’s a different game.”
In terms of the offense as a whole, the Sun Devils were outshot 48-21 and struggled creating opportunities, even at full strength.
“Plain and simple, I think we’ve just got to work at it,” Hollman said. “They came out and wanted it more than we did and we just didn’t do a good enough job of not only getting pucks through but generating chances in order to get those shots.”
Robert Levin started in goal and while the numbers would say otherwise, turned in a solid performance.
He faced 49 shots and allowed just six goals.
“He battled, he battled hard,” Powers said. “No complaints there, he works and he competes and that’s what we need out of our goalie.”
After last night, Powers said the biggest emphasis coming into the game was a fast start, and he got it.
Now, the next step is figuring out how to piece together a complete, 60-minute performance.
“They just beat us, that team just flat out beat us tonight,” Powers. “I thought last night was a winnable game for us and we felt like after last night, we could come here tonight and steal one and it didn’t go our way.”
