NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Facing a 4-2 deficit midway through the third period, goals by Jake Pivonka, Solag Bakich and then Nick Leivermann with five seconds left in the third lifted No. 13 Notre Dame to a 5-4 comeback victory over No. 20 Arizona State on Friday night at the Compton Family Ice Arena. It was Leivermann’s first career game-winning goal.
The back-and-forth affair included a 2-0 Fighting Irish lead early in the first period and then four consecutive Arizona State goals, including three in the middle frame, to set the stage for the Notre Dame comeback.
Pivonka finished with a goal and an assist and Max Ellis added a pair of assists while Alex Steeves and Landon Slaggert (first of his career) also scored for Notre Dame. Arizona State’s Matthew Kopperud had two goals and an assist to pace the Sun Devils.
Notre Dame outshot Arizona State, 47-37, with Dylan St. Cyr making 33 saves in the win and ASU’s Cole Brady stopping 42 shots.
Arizona State was 1-for-4 on the power play, while Notre Dame was 0-for-1.
How It Happened
The Irish jumped out to a 1-0 lead at 5:10 of the first period when Alex Steeves notched his second goal of the season. He blocked a shot at the defensive blue line and skated into Arizona State’s zone on a two-on-one with Colin Theisen, burying his chance with ASU taking away the pass.
Just 13 seconds later, Landon Slaggert scored his first career goal. Following the Steeves goal, Trevor Janicke won the faceoff back to Nate Clurman, who flipped the puck into the offensive zone. Slaggert deflected the bouncing puck and batted it from midair past Cole Brady from just outside the goal crease.
Notre Dame killed off back-to-back Arizona State power plays later in the first, including 1:28 of a 5-on-3.
St. Cyr then flashed his right pad to stop Benji Eckerle with just under seven minutes remaining in the first. But Jordan Sandhu was able to score at 19:05 to make it a 2-1 game after the first 20 minutes of play.
Notre Dame killed off an Arizona State power play to start the second and just after returning to full strength, Theisen beat Brady but his shot rang off the post.
The Sun Devils were able to tie it up, 2-2, when Sandhu found Kopperud at the back post at 12:51 of the second period. Kopperud added a power-play goal at 17:24 of the second for Arizona State’s first lead of the night. Exactly one minute later, Ryan O’Reilly made it a 4-2 game, which is how the second period would end.
Pivonka took the rebound off a Stasney shot and fired the puck on goal. Arizona State netminder Cole Brady reached for the save, but Pivonka grabbed his own rebound and fired home his first of the season to get the Irish within one.
With just over seven and a half minutes left on the clock, Pivonka sent the puck across the crease to find sophomore Solag Bakich, who buried it on the short side to knot the game at 4-4.
With time winding down in the third, Leivermann held a Sun Devil clearing attempt at the blue line. He moved toward the high slot and got a shot off, but it was blocked. The puck fell back to Leivermann, whose second attempt sent the Irish home with a victory.
Notes
- Seniors Matt Hellickson and Colin Theisen skated in their 123rd consecutive games, dating back to the first game of their freshman season.
- Nate Clurman notched an assist to extend his career-long point streak to four games (2-2-4).
- Landon Slaggert scored his first career goal.
- Jake Pivonka then scored his first of the season, followed by Solag Bakich’s first of the year, giving the Irish 11 goal scorers this season.
- Pivonka finished with a goal and an assist for his first multi-point game of the season and third of his career.
- Max Ellis had two assists for his first career multi-point game.
- It marked the first time Notre Dame erased a two-goal, third period deficit to win since a 5-4 win over Penn State on March 1, 2019.
- Nick Leiveramann’s goal with five seconds left in the third period marked his first career game winner.
Check out the highlights and see what’s on tap for the Notre Dame hockey team after their thrilling comeback victory Friday night.