TEMPE, Ariz -- A five-goal flurry in a matter of five minutes in the 3rd period made the difference on Friday night, as No. 14 Sun Devil Hockey blitzed RIT (11-9-3) to tie the program's largest margin of victory in the 6-1 final. The win is the first time ASU (14-8-3) has won a game this season when entering the 3rd period tied.
Freshman defenseman Jacob Semik set a new personal collegiate high for points in a game with three (1g, 2a), while graduate transfer Max Prawdzik picked up his third victory of his Sun Devil career.
"I thought we played really well -- I don't think the third period felt much different than the second -- the only difference is we were putting the puck in the net," said head coach Greg Powers. "The guys played with pace tonight, for the most part played in the right way and I think Max Prawdzik made two huge saves to keep the game 1-1 then we started to put the puck in the back of the net."
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Freshman defenseman Jacob Semik set a new personal collegiate high for points in a game with three (1g, 2a), while graduate transfer Max Prawdzik picked up his third victory of his Sun Devil career.
"I thought we played really well -- I don't think the third period felt much different than the second -- the only difference is we were putting the puck in the net," said head coach Greg Powers. "The guys played with pace tonight, for the most part played in the right way and I think Max Prawdzik made two huge saves to keep the game 1-1 then we started to put the puck in the back of the net."
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Almost halfway through the first period, the Sun Devils were coming out of the defensive zone as Jacob Semik slid a pass to Johnny Walker on the far side of ice. Walker then passed it to an open Jordan Sandhu in front of the net for a backdoor tap in.
- Two minutes into the 2nd period, RIT evened the score as Kobe Walker punched one under the pad of Prawdzik.
- Four minutes into the 3rd, the barrage of Sun Devil tallies began as senior Brett Gruber sauced a pass from the top of the left circle to Jacob Semik inside the bottom right circle for a quick one-timer that beat Drackett.
- Thirty-four seconds later, Josh Maniscalco fed Johnny Walker, who toe dragged an RIT defenseman before finding the goaltender out of position before finishing the puck into an empty net to extend the lead to 3-1.
- A minute and 36 seconds later, RIT turned over the puck in the zone and the Sun Devils had a 3-on-1 rush the other way. Jacob Semik fed Jack Judson who elevated the puck from in front underneath the bar to make the game 4-1.
- Seven seconds later, off the ensuing faceoff, Maniscalco dumped the puck into the zone, which ricocheted out of the corner into the right circle. It found Willie Knierim's stick, who capitalized for his eighth goal of the season as Drackett went behind the net to play the dump.
- Less than three minutes later, Tyler Busch won a faceoff in the offensive zone, sliding the puck to an unmarked Jarrod Gourley at the point who finished on a one-timer to make it 6-1.
- The win marked the first for the Sun Devils when tied after two periods. They were 0-4-1-0 in such games prior to tonight.
- The five-goal victory margin matches the largest in program history, previously done on Feb. 1, 2019 at RIT (also: 6-1).
- The five-goal third period is the most goals scored in a period by the Sun Devils in program history.
- At seven seconds apart, Jack Judson and Willie Knierim's third period goals were the fastest back-to-back goals in program history.
- ASU moves to 7-2-2 at home this season and 7-2-1 at Oceanside Ice Arena. They are 16-2-1 at Oceanside dating back to Oct. 26, 2018.
- The Devils move to 4-1-0 vs. Atlantic Hockey opponents this season, posting a +12 goal differential in that time.
- They are 9-1-1 in their last 11 against the conference with a +25 differential.
- Max Prawdzik stopped 24 of 25 shots faced, the second most of his career and the most since repelling 29 shots vs. New Hampshire on Nov. 11, 2017.
- Johnny Walker recorded his ninth multi-point game of the season with a goal and an assist.
- He also extended his point streak to five consecutive games, posting eight points during that stretch (3g, 5a).
- His 30 points is two shy of a career high (32) with seven games in hand.
- Jacob Semik set a career high with three points (1g, 2a) -- his second collegiate multi-point effort (also: two assists on Nov. 1, 2019 vs. Quinnipiac).
- With two more assists tonight, Joshua Maniscalco matches a season-high with a three-game point streak (4x: last, Nov. 1-29, 2019).
- He also matched his season high for points in a season (20) which he set in his freshman campaign in 2018-19.