Oct. 25 was the lowest of lows for the Michigan hockey team's penalty kill.

On that day, the unit got demolished in its first real test of the season, surrendering five power-play goals in an embarrassing 7-2 loss at then-No. 7 Boston University.

“We weren’t involved in our system, we weren’t working with each other and you need four guys to be in concert out there,” Michigan assistant coach Billy Powers said yesterday, reflecting on the game. “They got to be pulling and working together because if one guy breaks down, it affects the other three as far as what we’re trying to do in our rotation.”

What made it even worse was that Boston and Michigan run a very similar power play. But with a man down, the Wolverines played passively and fell further behind the play with each Terrier pass.

But over Michigan’s last 12 games, the penalty-killing unit is completely different than the one that showed up (or didn’t) in Boston. The Wolverines have killed 57 of the last 61 penalties they’ve faced, including each of the last 25. Against Notre Dame’s conference-leading power play last weekend, Michigan didn’t let a single puck find the back of the net.

And those statistics are significant for more than just putting the Wolverines atop the CCHA with a 92.2 conference penalty-killing percentage. Michigan, succeeding 87.2 percent of the time this season, is on pace for the program's fourth-best season from a penalty-killing perspective. But most importantly, the Wolverines have won 10 of their last 12 down the stretch. The crucial victories have moved them into fourth place in the conference, which would grant the team a first-round bye in the CCHA playoffs.

“What you’re seeing now is more continuity in all four guys, (and they're) in sync with what’s going on,” Powers said. “Not just three guys doing their job and one guy not sure what they’re doing. They’re getting better efforts from all four players.”

Yet it takes more than just hard work to kill penalties successfully. It comes down to solid forechecking, strong defensive-zone play and film preparation.

Michigan relies heavily on sophomore forwards Matt Rust and Carl Hagelin, a pair that excels at skating and anticipating, as the keys to a stifling forecheck. As the primary penalty-kill pair, one of them usually applies pressure as the opposing team’s defenseman retrieves a cleared puck.

“Carl’s got unbelievable speed," Rust said. "He can just get in there, (and) he can just wreak havoc. ... It’s a lot harder for a defenseman to make a pass or even make a decent play coming out of the zone when Carl’s got all that speed coming up.”

The other forward stays back on the blue line, and along with the two Wolverine defensemen on the ice, tries to force the opposing power-play unit to dump the puck in rather than skate it into the zone and set up shop.

Once the puck enters the zone, though, it all comes down to the four skaters working “in concert,” and that’s also where the film preparation comes into play.

“In zone, it’s just about reading what the power play is trying to do,” Powers said. “And we go over the tendencies of the other team’s power play (during the week).

“We’re going into games with a good idea of what the other team’s trying to do and then we try to take away those strengths.”

It doesn’t stop there. Rust and Hagelin, along with senior forward Tim Miller and freshman forward David Wohlberg, have done a good job of killing penalties in the offensive zone, and have even had three shorthanded goals this season.

Rust, Hagelin and Miller play on just the penalty kill and never see the ice on the power play, which gives them a bit more pride when they start their shifts a man down.

“The other team underestimates you,” Rust said. “They don’t expect you to get offense out of a play. If you do the right things, and you guess and you’re smart and you kind of get fortunate enough, you can catch a team off guard and make them pay.”

As Michigan coach Red Berenson puts it, “you want guys that are going to work hard and get in front of pucks and take pride in it.”

Yet even after coming away unscathed from its biggest test of the year, Michigan is still not quite satisfied with its penalty-killing unit.

“We’re not doing a really good job blocking shots,” Rust said. “But the puck’s staying out of the net, whether that’s luck or that’s just (goalie Bryan) Hogan playing well or (goalie) Billy (Sauer) playing well.