(NOTRE DAME RELEASE)
NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Max Ellis scored twice, but #18 Notre Dame (5-6-1, 3-4-1-0-1-1 B1G) fell to Arizona State (4-9-2), 5-3, on Sunday night inside Compton Family Ice Arena.
Spencer Stastney also scored for the Irish.
Ryan Bischel made 23 saves in goal for Notre Dame, while Justin Robbins stopped 26 shots for Arizona State as Notre Dame outshot the Sun Devils 29-28.
The Irish went 0-for-1 on the power play and the Sun Devils finished 2-for-6 on the man advantage.
How It Happened
Arizona State got on the board when James Sanchez scored at 11:43 of the first, four seconds after a Sun Devils power-play chance had expired.
The period ended with the Sun Devils in front 1-0 with the Notre Dame penalty kill unit forced to kill off three ASU power play chances. Bischel finished the first 20 minutes with 11 saves.
Stastney got the Irish on the board with a wrist shot from the point that beat Robbins high with Michael Graham providing the screen in front. Silianoff, who had dropped the puck off to Stastney, and Graham assisted on the play.
Notre Dame had the game’s next power play, but Robbins was up for the task denying Graham Slaggert, Alex Steeves and Nick Leivermann with the Irish on the man advantage.
Arizona State retook the lead, 2-1, when Jarrod Courley put home a rebound after an off-pad shot by Ryan O’Reilly at 15:27 of the second.
Still trailing 2-1 to start the third, Ellis and Stasney each had good chances early in the frame but couldn’t tie things up.
Then Chris Grando intercepted an Irish clearing attempt and moved the puck to Johnny Walker, who beat Bischel down low to make it a 3-1 game at 8:19 of the third.
Ellis got the Irish back within one with a turnaround shot in front of goal that beat Robbins glove-side. Jake Pivonka, who got the puck in front to Ellis, and Leivermann each earned assists on the play.
Colin Theisen was whistled for a five-minute major less than a minute after Ellis’ goal, and Matthew Kopperud converted twice on the extended power play to put Arizona State up 5-2.
On the ensuing faceoff after Kopperud’s second goal, Ellis notched his second marker of the night while Arizona State was still on the man advantage to get the Irish back within a pair. Solag Bakich won the draw to earn an assist on the tally.
Still trailing by two goals late, the Irish pulled Bischel for an extra attacker but were unable to convert.
Notes
Seniors Matt Hellickson and Colin Theisen skated in their 129th consecutive games, dating back to the first game of their freshman season.
With an assist, Grant Silianoff extended his point streak to three games (3-1-4).
With an assist, Michael Graham extended his point streak to three games (1-2-3).
Max Ellis had his first career two-goal game a night after posting his first career two-assist game (Sunday’s game marked his third multi-point game of the season/his career).
With Ellis finding the back of the net, Notre Dame has had 14 goal scorers this season.
Next Up
Next weekend, Notre Dame hits the road for the second time this season when it heads to top-ranked Minnesota for a two-game series (Jan. 15-16).
Game one (8 p.m. ET) will be televised by Fox Sports North Plus, while game two (6 p.m. ET) will be on Fox Sports North.
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