No. 2 Michigan Hockey preps for final road series at No. 13 Wisconsin

Michigan Wolverines win 5 of 6 points from Penn State.
Key Michigan players Hage, Horcoff, Ivankovic, Moldenhauer, Perron, Hughes perform.
Michigan faces Wisconsin, needing win for Big Ten race and NCAA seed.

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What is the story about?

The reports of their demise were greatly exaggerated! The No. 2 Michigan Wolverines (24-5-1) bounced back from an ugly Duel in the D performance by taking five of six possible points from top-10 Penn State to stay alive in the Big Ten race. A series that represented individual resilience as much as that of the collective.

Sophomore Will Horcoff (21G, 12A) scored his first goal in five games to end his worst slump of the season. Michael Hage (12G, 30A) had his best series since late November with five points

and was named the Big Ten’s First Star of the Week. And despite a seemingly below-average .901 performance in net, Jack Ivankovic was back to pre-injury form, including a shootout win to steal the extra point in Game 1.

All these comeback performances were needed for a team with national title hopes. However, while certain players struggled, others seized the opportunity to level up in the interim and balance out Michigan’s overall attack.

Nick Moldenhauer (12G, 13A) has half his season’s goal production over the last five games while he supplemented for Horcoff. Jayden Perron (13G, 18A) has 13 points over his last 10 games and has eased some of the playmaking burden for Hage. But the most important piece for this team has been Mr. Consistent, the team’s leading scorer, T.J. Hughes (15G, 28A). He has produced at a Hobey Baker level and has registered a point in all but one game since late November, regardless of who’s sharing his line.

If Michigan can keep all these players rolling at the same time down the stretch, the Wolverines will be hard for anyone to beat in the postseason. But first, Michigan must exorcise some demons in its last road series of the year against a desperate team that kicked its ass, 6-1, the last time they played.

Wisconsin (18-10-2) is one of the most puzzling teams in the country. A dominant force in the first half of the season, the Badgers have posted a 6-8 record since returning from the winter break. This is a team that swept Minnesota by a combined 9-2 score in early November and was then swept by the Gophers, 12-5, in late January. Fans of the red and white are wondering the same thing…what the hell, Wisconsin?

Currently sitting at No. 15 of the NPI — the rankings system that determines the NCAA Tournament field after the six conference champions — Wisconsin cannot afford anything less than three points this weekend. However, it may have to do so without starting goaltender Danier Hauser (.903 SV%). He was leading the Big Ten with a .940 save percentage the last time these teams played, but the freshman’s dominance quickly went from inconsistent to worse when he exited with an upper body injury last week against Ohio State. Head coach Mike Hastings said he is questionable, but it’s looking like sophomore Eli Pulver’s (.859 SV%) net this weekend.

With an unsteady presence in net, the Badgers will have to throw caution to the wind and try to outscore Michigan in an unofficial race to five. Wisconsin will need its top two scorers — Gavin Morrissey (6G, 22A) and Christian Fitzgerald (14G, 11A) — to replicate their goal-per-game performances from the first series and bolster the nation’s fourth-ranked power play — a power play that converted at a ridiculous 40 percent clip during the series split in Ann Arbor and could once again be the difference this weekend.

Key to the Game

Special teams. Michigan’s No. 1 power play vs. Wisconsin’s No. 59 penalty-kill; Wisconsin’s No. 4 power play vs. Michigan’s No. 43 penalty kill. For a team looking to overcome a stark goaltending advantage, drawing penalties is a great place to start.

The Badgers dominated Michigan on special teams in the first series and will have to do so again to ease the burden on Pulver’s plate. Conversely, Michigan retooled its power play last Saturday to great success (2-for-2) and will need to do the same for its penalty kill.

Michigan needs to win to keep pace with Michigan State for the Big Ten race and the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, and Wisconsin needs the series to stay alive for the postseason. On the brink of one of the most dramatic collapses in recent history, and with no love lost between these two teams, Michigan has a chance to signal the demise of Wisconsin and all but eliminate the Badgers from postseason contention.