DETROIT — Dennis Cesana didn’t have an answer for the two power play goals his team allowed.
“I’m not sure they changed anything up too much,” the Michigan State defender said about the Wolverines’ power play.
But Cesana was wrong.
All week long in practice, Michigan ran power play drills and made adjustments as it saw fit. It moved players around to different positions with hopes of throwing off the Spartan penalty killers. Monday night, the Wolverines did just that on their way to a 4-1 win.
“I don’t think they really had a game plan for some of the things we were doing,” senior forward Will Lockwood said.
Michigan scored two power play goals — good for a 100 percent conversion rate. Both came at pivotal moments in the game. The first gave Michigan the lead, the second separation.
The first power play opportunity came with just under five minutes remaining in the first period and the Wolverines wasted no time in capitalizing.
Senior forward Jake Slaker and Lockwood connected on a pass in between two Michigan State defensemen. Lockwood was in the right faceoff circle, all alone. He stick-handled twice before throwing a pass to graduate transfer forward Jacob Hayhurst.
Hayhurst turned his hips toward the goal when he saw the puck coming his way, positioning himself directly in front of Spartan goaltender John Lethemon. With a quick flick of his wrist, he beat Lethemon and broke the 1-1 tie.
“The power play was good tonight,” Michigan coach Mel Pearson said. “Scoring the power play goal was big because they came right back. You know, we scored, they come back to make it 1-1. To get that next one again. To play with the lead is important, especially against good teams like this.”
While Hayhurst’s goal ended up being the game-winner, the Wolverines’ power play units weren’t satisfied yet. Ninety seconds into the second period, Michigan was presented with another man advantage opportunity.
This time, the goal came from the stick of sophomore defenseman Nick Blankenburg. At the blueline of his team’s offensive zone, freshman defenseman Cam York passed the puck to Blankenburg. With his head looking to the goal, he assessed his options. Lockwood and Slaker were drifting near the net, but rather than finding one of them, he passed back to York.
York took advantage of the few feet of open ice in front of him, drawing two Michigan State defenders to him. This movement freed up Blankenburg, still positioned at the blueline. When he received the second pass from York, he’d already made up his mind — he was shooting.
A second later the puck blew past Lethemon.
The Wolverines now had a two-goal lead, and it was all due to their special team’s success.
“The puck movement, I thought we moved it really well,” Lockwood said. “We did all practice this past week. So leading into these two games we were expecting to succeed, and I think we did well.”
After Friday, Michigan’s power play conversion sat at 17.8 percent. It’s not great, or even good. It’s average. But it’s strides ahead of where it was a few months ago. In a November series against Minnesota, the Wolverines went 0-for-9 on the man advantage. The success rate sat at just 17.6 percent.
But in this series against Michigan State, the power play found its footing. The adjustments Michigan made — which Pearson declined to go into specifics about — clearly worked. In Friday night’s game against the Spartans, the power play went 1-for-5, and Monday night it was perfect, going 2-for-2.
The Wolverines are becoming serious contenders for the Big Ten regular season title — something that a few months ago seemed out of the question. Building on their power play success is a key to getting there.