TEMPE, Ariz. – After jumping out to a 2-0 lead, Sun Devil Hockey saw their lead dissipate behind two Vermont power play goals, resulting in an overtime tie at Oceanside Ice Arena Saturday night. It's the first time in program history the Sun Devils (7-4-1) have lost a two-goal lead at home.
ASU ultimately outshot Vermont (1-9-2) 29-26, and cultivated several grade 'A' scoring chances in the final period. However, Catamount goaltender Stefanos Lekkas – the 2018-19 Mike Richter Award semifinalist – stymied everything that came his way in the final 35 minutes.
"I don't think we played poorly but we can play a lot better," said head coach Greg Powers. "At the end of the day, they played hard tonight, didn't go away, fought back and earned a tie."
HOW IT HAPPENED:
GAME STATS:
ASU ultimately outshot Vermont (1-9-2) 29-26, and cultivated several grade 'A' scoring chances in the final period. However, Catamount goaltender Stefanos Lekkas – the 2018-19 Mike Richter Award semifinalist – stymied everything that came his way in the final 35 minutes.
"I don't think we played poorly but we can play a lot better," said head coach Greg Powers. "At the end of the day, they played hard tonight, didn't go away, fought back and earned a tie."
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- With just a few minutes left in the 1st period, senior forward Brett Gruber sauced a great pass backdoor to freshman defenseman Jack Judson for a quick shot that beat Lekkas for the 1-0 lead entering the first intermission.
- Nearly halfway through the 2nd, redshirt sophomore Austin Lemieux tallied his second goal of the season on a redirect in front off the shot from Judson, putting ASU up 2-0.
- After killing all four Vermont man advantage opportunities on Friday, ASU's penalty kill killed just 3-of-5 on Saturday, becoming the difference in game two.
- The first power-play tally for the Catamounts came at 11:30 of the 2nd period, as Ace Cowans scored first to cut the Devils' lead in half.
- Five minutes later, Vermont struck again for back-to-back power play goals to tie the game entering the second intermission.
- Late in the overtime period, junior forward Willie Knierim split two Catamount defenders and was shoved into goaltender Stefanos Lekkas, knocking the net off just before the puck crossed the goal line. It was originally ruled a goal, but after review, the officials determined Knierim interfered with the netminder. However, the officials called a penalty during the play on Vermont for tripping.
GAME STATS:
- Gruber's assist in the first period was his first point of the 2019-20 season.
- Despite scoring two goals this season – including one tonight – Judson tallied his first assist of the season on Lemieux's goal.
- Junior forward James Sanchez had his seven-game point streak come to an end on Saturday night.
- Despite the tie, sophomore goaltender Evan DeBrouwer holds a 1.62 goals against average and .940 save percentage in his last eight games with a 6-1-1 record.
- It's the first tie for the Sun Devils since Dec. 28, 2018 against No. 3 Minnesota State.
- In former Sun Devil news, goaltender Joey Daccord earned his first AHL victory with the Belleville Senators, earning a 3-1 victory over the Hershey Bears on the road.