The Irish were hoping for offense in Tuesday night's matchup against Michigan Tech. They didn't expect it to come from their opponent, however, as the Huskies converted three power plays to goals and pulled away late to a 6-2 win over the Irish.
Notre Dame had trouble on the penalty kill this weekend against the Buckeyes, and that problem did not correct itself Tuesday.
The Huskies, ranked a surprising No. 8 in the nation on the power play, scored three power play goals in five chances to really make the difference in the game.
Despite an early Huskies score from Clay Wilson 3:56 into the game, the Irish hung with Michigan Tech for the first period.
The Irish evened the score at 17:21 in the first period when defenseman Luke Lucyk found Chris Trick through the crease for a score.
The second period started off with the Huskies and the Irish trading goals.
Michigan Tech's Colin Murphy found a wide-open Chris Conner in front of the net. Conner was able to shoot past Irish goalie Morgan Cey for the lead at 2:33 in the second.
The Irish came back just 37 seconds later when Dan VeNard scored his first collegiate goal.
However, as the second period continued, the Huskies pulled away.
Michigan Tech's Nick Anderson made the score 3-2 on a power play goal at 7:57 when he ripped a slap shot from the left circle.
At 11:46, the Huskies' Ryan Markham scored off of a rebound of a Malcom Gwilliam shot to increase the lead to two goals.
The third period was more of the same from Michigan Tech, as the Huskies added two unanswered power play goals to turn what was a good hockey game in the early second period into a blowout by the end of regulation.
Anderson scored his second goal at 15:26 and Brandon Schwartz scored at 19:25.
After Saturday night's loss, Irish coach Dave Poulin expressed his feeling that the Irish had played a great third period of hockey and would love to run with that into the three non-league games this week.
"I'd rather have kept going tonight and played another couple games tonight," Poulin said, after Saturday night's loss.
Instead, the Irish were unable to capture that same intensity for a full three periods of hockey, something that has plagued the Irish all season.
Going into Tuesday night's game, the Irish were being outscored 30-10 in the third period. The two goals in the final period against Michigan Tech were consistent with that statistic.
Despite giving up six goals, Morgan Cey had 33 saves for the Irish.
If the Irish plan to turn around their season this weekend, it is not going to come easily. The Irish take on No. 5 Wisconsin Friday and Saturday night.
