Fresh off a weekend sweep at previously No. 3 Michigan, Notre Dame welcomed No. 20 Arizona State to campus for the first of a two-game series on Thursday night.
The Irish dropped the opener of the series to the Sun Devils, 6-3, and fell to 2-3 on the young season.
Trevor Janicke, Graham Slaggert, and Nate Clurman all scored goals for the Irish but it was a tough night for the netminding as Notre Dame allowed six goals on just 28 Arizona State shots.
Ryan O’Reilly and Matthew Kopperud got it started earlier for Arizona State, both scoring in the first 1:55 of the game.
Notre Dame answered just over 10 minutes later to cut the deficit to one but a quick answer by Arizona State’s Jax Murray again made it a two-goal advantage just 55 seconds later.
Slaggert then found the back of the net for the Irish in the closing moments of the first period to again cut the Arizona State lead to 3-2.
Just under seven minutes into the second period Michael Mancinelli scored yet another goal for Arizona State to make it 4-2 before Clurman netted his goal six minutes later to again cut the Sun Devils lead to one.
Kopperud scored his second goal of the night just over nine minutes into the third and this time Notre Dame was unable to respond, eventually allowing an empty-net goal for the final 6-3 score.
Notre Dame and Arizona State wrap-up their two-game series Friday night at Compton Ice Arena as the puck drops at 7 p.m. ET and can be seen on NBCSN.