Michigan 10, Rutgers 8

Michigan won because it got really good goalie play and took care of the ball. Don’t believe me? Just watch…

Tempo Free

From the official box score, a look at the tempo-free stats:

Michigan got bombed on faceoffs, but managed to keep possessions within striking distance. Then, just being better in the half-field and making the most of those opportunities was enough to get a relatively comfortable win.

Notes

We shall start on those faceoffs, though they didn’t end up being the story in this game. Michigan went with three different specialists (including LSM Chase Brown, who usually goes in to try to create a 50/50 GB, but ends up doing a decent job winning some), but couldn’t solve Joseph Nardella. That’s hardly an embarrassment: he’s one of the top 15 specialists in the country. It’s still a disappointment, after U-M had a couple years of improving results, they just aren’t coming together this year. I think the rules changes play a role (they don’t work toward U-M’s strengths), but being above-average should still be doable.

Fortunately, Michigan managed to have many more clearing attempts than Rutgers (and converted at an ever-so-slightly better rate) to even out the attempts to a degree. The biggest part of that goes hand-in-hand with the offensive efficiency: Michigan possessions ended in faceoffs. Rutgers possessions ended in turnovers or saves.

Speaking of that offensive efficiency, hello and welcome back Ian King. It’s hard to give one player the credit for a strong offensive day – even when he scores four of the ten goals – but King’s presence makes the U-M offense so much more dangerous. It’s a shame to think how different the result of the Drexel game (at the very least) could have been with the biggest offensive weapon available.

Elsewhere on the offense, Kyle Jackson scored three goals of his own, to eclipse Thomas Paras as the program’s all-time leading scorer. Seven other Wolverines notched a single point, though U-M only tallied assists on four of the ten goals.

The efficiency number on offense is what draws eyeballs, but the defense was very solid in its own right. Logan saved 13 of the Scarlet Knights’ 21 shots, and U-M caused four turnovers (while letting RU commit 10 more on its own). The nature of defense is sometimes such that it’s hard to point out great individual performances other than the goalie, but rest assured that the Maize and Blue did very well there.

This was a serious game of runs, though many of them weren’t long enough to draw an overall trend. For big stretches, Michigan looked unstoppable (first three goals of the game, six out of seven in the third quarter), and even when Rutgers took a lead, it seemed to be delaying the inevitable, rather than a serious threat to win at times. For a program that’s gone through what Michigan has in Years 1-4, that’s a big step in the right direction.

Elsewhere

Michigan recap. Boxscore. Game photos. Rutgers recap.

Up Next

Michigan hosts Ohio State at 2 p.m. Sunday in a game that looks a whole heck of a lot tougher now than it might have been at the beginning of the year. Both teams are trying for a Big Ten Tournament shot, with the Buckeyes having a leg up for now. U-M has played the best and worst teams in the conference, and taking one from a team in the middle of the pack will go a long way.