Power-play goals lead Michigan to win over Northern

By Lindsey Ungar –

ANN ARBOR – It wasn’t pretty, but it was special – teams, that is.

The No. 5 Michigan Wolverines couldn’t stay out of the box on Friday night, nabbing six penalties, but managed to score on its only two power plays en route to a 4-1 win over Northern Michigan.

“From a coach’s perspective, you like the outcome of the game, but you don’t like how you got there,” Michigan coach Red Berenson said.

Coming into the game, the Wildcats were scoring at 19.7 percent clip on the power play, good for second in the CCHA. But Northern Michigan could rarely mount sustained pressure on the power play against Michigan, launching just 4 shots and going 0-for-6 with the man advantage.

“We watched a lot of film and scouted them really well,” Michigan defenseman Jon Merrill said. “The coaches prepared us perfectly. We knew exactly what they were going to do on their breakouts, in zone.”

The penalty kill was a focus for the Wolverines, who had allowed three goals on eight opportunities last weekend against arch-rival Michigan State.

The most perfect kill might have been the last. With the Wolverines clinging to a 2-1 lead, senior captain Luke Glendening picked up a penalty for high-stick Northern Michigan goaltender Jared Coreau. The Yost crowd didn’t like the call – the sixth against the home team – raining boos from the rafters midway through the third period.

Michigan didn’t allow a single shot on the penalty kill. On the next shift, Tyler Gron took an interference call – only Northern Michigan’s second penalty of the game and first since the opening minutes of play – and the Wildcats comeback effort seemed to lose momentum.

Over the past 12 games, Michigan has killed 44 of 48 penalties (92%). Their record over that same span? 9-2-1.

Michigan carried a 2-0 lead into the second period off goals from Phil Di Giuseppe and a power-play tally from Alex Guptill.

But that’s when the Michigan offense – and discipline – went dormant.

“With the lead, I thought we got softer, and then we started taking penalties – unnecessary penalties – and literally had to kill penalties most of the second period,” Berenson said. “And you can’t play that way and get any momentum going. So we got lucky in this game.”

While Northern Michigan couldn’t convert any of its three power play opportunities in the second, it did cut Michigan’s lead in half with a goal from Ryan Daugherty at 11:16. It was Daugherty’s first career goal.

Derek DeBlois added Michigan’s third at with less than five minutes to go in the final frame. Lee Moffie added insurance on the power play with 1:32 left for the 4-1 final.

The series carries a 1-1-1 line going into its final battle on Saturday. The two teams face off in an early-bird contest at 5 p.m. at Yost due to the Michigan-Ohio State basketball game at Crisler later in the evening.

Notes: Michigan’s first two goals came from Ontario natives, prompting two rounds of “O Canada” from the student section… Freshman defenseman Mike Szuma played in just his third game this season… Sophomore defenseman Kevin Clare did not finish the game with an injury; Berenson said freshman Mike Chiasson might be back in the lineup to replace Clare… It was the sixth straight sellout at Yost… Tomorrow’s night’s game is Senior Night, marking the final Yost appearance for Greg Pateryn, Luke Glendening, David Wohlberg and Shawn Hunwick.