Huskies tie LSSU Saturday; Win the shootout
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | OT | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Lake Superior State (4-12-4, 3-8-3-0) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
|
Michigan Tech (9-7-5, 7-6-5-2) | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
HOUGHTON, Mich. – Michigan Tech extended its unbeaten streak against Lake Superior State to 15 games with a 3-3 tie Saturday (Dec. 16) at the John MacInnes Student Ice Arena. Jake Jackson scored in the shootout, and Robbie Beydoun stopped all three Laker attempts to secure the extra WCHA point.
The series was similar to the first meeting between the two teams in October when Tech won 4-3 the first night and tied 2-2 with a shootout win the next. The Huskies wrapped up the 2017 portion of the schedule with a 9-7-5 overall record and 7-6-5-2 mark in the WCHA.
"I feel fortunate to come out of this weekend with five out of six points," Tech coach Joe Shawhan said. "Hopefully that one point will come up big down the road. We got dinged up a little bit today and in this series. This break is coming at the right time."
Tied at two entering the third period, Brent Baltus scored for the fifth time in the last six games to give the home team its first lead with 4:06 left in regulation. He whacked in a rebound after a shot by Jake Jackson for his seventh goal of the season. Mitch Reinke also assisted with a long stretch pass up to Jackson.
LSSU (4-12-4, 3-8-3 WCHA) pulled its goaltender late in the game and tied it up, as Anthony Nellis put in a rebound with 41.6 seconds left. Tyler Anderson and Ian Johnston assisted on the play.
The Lakers had three shots in first overtime while Tech had two. Mitch Meek and Jake Lucchini had great scoring chances in the 3-on-3 overtime. Meek carried the puck to the middle and wristed his shot wide with 1:45 left. Lucchini then hit goaltender Mareks Mitens in the facemask with 35 seconds left.
Jackson's shootout winner was in the third round and Reinke and Dylan Steman had their shots saved. Beydoun shut the door on Lukas Kaelble, J.T. Henke, and Anthony Nellis.
"I was thinking shot and coach was thinking shot," Jackson said. "Last time we played them, I had the same spot open in the shootout, and I missed it. This time I went down and made a little better fake and shot it low left post."
The Lakers jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the game. Brendan McKay scored 1:19 after puck drop, capitalizing on a turnover in front of Beydoun.
Henke added to the lead 12:31 into the second period with a shot off the drop of the puck on a faceoff that stunned Beydoun—and everyone in the building.
Steman got the Huskies on the board with a quick snapshot from the faceoff dot to the left of Mitens for his second of the season at 14:06 of the second. Greyson Reitmeier and Justin Misiak assisted.
Dane Birks tied it up just over 3:30 later with a wrist shot from the top of the circle after Steman won the draw back. For Birks, it was his fourth of the season.
Tech outshot LSSU 36-25 in the game. The Huskies were 0-for-3 on the power play and 1-for-1 on the penalty kill.
Beydoun had 22 saves in his third straight start. Mitens finished with 33 saves.
Jackson extended his point streak to eight games with an assist. He has four goals and six assists in the stretch. Baltus is on a six-game point streak with five goals and five assists.
The Huskies are now off until the 53rd annual Great Lakes Invitational on New Year's Day at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit. Tech opens up against Michigan State in the first semifinal at 2:30 p.m. Michigan and Bowling Green play in the late game.
