ASU completed a sweep of No. 9 Quinnipiac in a 4-1 victory Saturday night and advanced to 5-3 on the season.
Despite defeating the Bobcats 5-3 Friday, the Sun Devils weren't finished avenging their NCAA Tournament loss from last season.
ASU came roaring out the gate and never slowed down.
The team displayed an energetic and highly physical strategy that gave Quinnipiac fits. While the strategy resulted in more than a few penalties, the Sun Devils put forth their best effort, and it paid off.
“It was about as good as we can expect to play.” head coach Greg Powers said. “If you play like that, you’re gonna win a lot of games. It’s that simple. That’s the effort, across the board, top to bottom, in every way, that we knew we had in us.”
The Sun Devils outplayed the Bobcats for the entire game. Even during numerous Quinnipiac power plays, ASU’s penalty kill never ceded a goal.
At the same time, the Sun Devils used enough finesse to get the puck in the net repeatedly. They passed the puck well and generated numerous scoring chances, which gave them a 38-20 shot advantage for the game.
“We possessed the puck tonight,” Powers said. “Our guys really took the puck and managed the puck better than we probably ever have. I’d be really interested in seeing what the possession time was. And a lot of that was because we were winning draws tonight.”
The opening frame was completely dominated by ASU, as the team registered two goals less than 12 minutes in. Redshirt sophomore forward Austin Lemieux scored his first goal of the season midway through the period on a dish from freshman forward Logan Jenuwine.
“The chemistry’s there with me and Jenuwine,” Lemieux said. “But we had a new center tonight, Koumo (sophomore forward Demetrios Koumontzis). I played a lot with him last year, so it was pretty easy for him to fill right in.”
Less than three minutes later, junior forward James Sanchez found junior defenseman Jacob Wilson for another goal during a 4-on-4.
Wilson, who missed the tournament last year, cherished the chance to take part in ASU’s revenge.
“It’s a little sweeter to be able to play this year against them,” Wilson said. “So, I’m very happy with the win, and I’m glad that I played.”
Junior forward Johnny Walker, who tied for second in the NCAA in goals scored last season, registered his fifth of 2019-20 halfway through the second period to give ASU a commanding 3-0 lead.
Although Quinnipiac put one in the net soon after, ASU added another of its own and cruised to a 4-1 win.
“Once we put together that first 40 (minutes) the way we did, we were really good,” Powers said. “I’d be hard pressed to know if we’ve ever played better than that.”
ASU will take on Alaska Fairbanks next in the first of a two-game road series on Nov. 8 at 9:07 p.m. MST.
Reach the reporter at cvanligt@asu.edu and follow @Connor_VL on Twitter.
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