Baggot’s 4Check: Linemates Johnson and Malone potent together
December 04, 2017 | Men's Hockey, Andy Baggot
Four takeaways from Wisconsin’s series vs. Minnesota
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BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider
MADISON, Wis. — Here are four takeaways on the Wisconsin men's hockey team following its Big Ten Conference series with Minnesota:
1. The biggest first-half puzzle for the Badgers? Easy. How to get graduate transfer goaltender Kyle Hayton into a more comfortable groove. He's 7-6-2 with a 2.88 goals-against average and .892 save percentage, numbers that run counter to his decorated resume at St. Lawrence (54-37-13, 2.09, .934). He's allowed four-plus goals three times, including a series-opening 5-4 loss to the Gophers last Friday when he got little defensive support during a four-goal second-period barrage by Minnesota. Sophomore backup Jack Berry worked the series finale and turned away a career-best 40 shots, spearheading a key 3-2 victory on Saturday.
A gritty win for the #Badgers tonight
— Wisconsin Hockey (@BadgerMHockey) December 2, 2017
2. The upcoming Big Ten home series with fourth-ranked Notre Dame is critical on multiple fronts. The Irish lead the nation in wins overall (14-3-1) and are working on an 11-game victory streak that goes back to Oct. 27. Wisconsin (10-7-2) needs a signature win or two to bolster its status in future Pairwise rankings. UW has a couple quality outcomes — No. 14 Boston College and seventh-ranked Minnesota, both on the road — but beating the Irish Friday and/or Saturday at the Kohl Center would help offset costly first-half losses to St. Lawrence and Mercyhurst and missed opportunities vs. No. 5 North Dakota.
Check out @TonyGranato from his news conference today. Badgers take on No. 4 Notre Dame this weekend at the Kohl Center.
— Wisconsin Hockey (@BadgerMHockey) December 4, 2017
3. How potent is the one-two punch of season-long linemates Will Johnson and Seamus Malone? When both are held pointless, Wisconsin is 0-4-1. When one or both has at least a point, the Badgers are 9-3-1. No wonder UW coach Tony Granato is fairly automatic when it comes to putting the two juniors on the same unit. While Malone has played both center and left wing, Johnson has been strictly a right winger. Johnson is third on the club in scoring with 15 points (5 goals, 10 assists) and Malone is tied for fourth with 14 points (7-7).
4. If there's one first-half trend the Badgers would like to reconfigure it's probably their record in one-goal games. A year after going 8-5 in this category, Wisconsin is 3-5. All five losses this season have come in series openers. In four of those outings UW was tied or had the lead in the third period.
