Kornacki: How Michael Pastujov Has Rebounded to Provide Scoring Spark

By Steve Kornacki

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Michael Pastujov has become fire on ice, scoring five goals in his last three games for the University of Michigan ice hockey team.

Pastujov and Jack Becker both scored a pair of goals in Friday night's (Feb. 8) spirited 5-3 win over archrival Michigan State, and Will Lockwood notched the other for his sixth goal in the last seven games.

Lockwood leads the Wolverines with 12 goals and is this team's "most dynamic player up front by far," according to coach Mel Pearson. But Pastujov is new to the goal-scoring party. He had only three goals in his first 20 games, and he had found the net just once in 16 games before Pearson decided to make him a healthy scratch for both games at Ohio State (Jan. 11-12).

"We sat him out against Ohio State," said Pearson. "And he came in and we had a good talk with the (coaching) staff and Mike about what direction his game was headed. And he had to make some changes. First and foremost, it started with nothing with the puck. It was without it -- working harder, competing harder.

"Usually, when you do that, things start to turn your way. And I think that's what happened. He's always been a skill player, but you have to have more to your game than just being skilled. You have to backcheck. You have to forecheck. You have to win battles on the boards. You have to block some shots. You've got to play strong on your stick. And he's doing those things."

Pastujov, a sophomore left wing from Bradenton, Florida, played in both games when the Wolverines returned to action two weeks later against Penn State and got one assist. He was making progress, and then last weekend at Minnesota he scored once on Friday (Feb. 1) and twice on Saturday (Feb. 2).

With six regular-season games remaining, Pastujov says it's "crunch time."

He made it back-to-back two-goal games against the Spartans in a critical contest in terms of being in position to host a first-round, best-of-three series in the Big Ten Tournament. The Wolverines (11-11-6, 7-7-4-2 Big Ten) took three points and broke a tie with the Spartans (10-14-5, 6-9-4-2 Big Ten) for fourth place and the final home-ice tourney advantage.

Pastujov gave Michigan the 2-1 lead it never relinquished at 2:52 of the second period. Center Jake Slaker, who had three assists in the game, stopped a puck rolling along the boards behind the goal before backhanding a pass to Pastujov parked in front. He then beat goalie Drew DeRidder to his stick side. Linemate Jimmy Lambert also got an assist for starting the play.

"I like the line [Pastujov's] playing with," said Pearson, "and they're making some things happen. So, good for Mike. He took that conversation, he didn't pout, he didn't sulk. You know, he just went out and played better. So, good for him. He's working hard."

MSU scored early in the third period to cut Michigan's lead to two goals and get back in the game. But Pastujov scored at 12:20 with Slaker and shot-blocking defenseman Griffin Luce both assisting.

"Pucks are finding me right now," said Pastujov. "It feels good, and it's nice when you play with a guy like Slaker and Jimmy. It comes easy."

His goal that made it 5-2 became huge when the Spartans scored at 15:19. The lead, while still not completely secure, still had cushion in it. There was a lengthy video review of the play but the goal ended up counting.

"I didn't see it," said Pastujov. "But initially I just looked at the goalie and he was laying down. So, I thought Lambert had actually hit him (for interference). I just shot and put it in. But when I saw the replay, I saw that [DeRidder] actually just flopped a bit. So, I was optimistic that it actually counted."

The Wolverines have won the opener and dropped the second game of three consecutive Big Ten series with the Buckeyes, Nittany Lions and Golden Gophers. That's a trend Michigan wants to end Saturday night (Feb. 9) when it meets MSU at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit in a game being televised by Fox Sports Detroit.

"In today's game we played well," noted Pastujov. "But we struggle on Saturdays, and so tomorrow we have to play our best game."

Only six games remain in the regular season, and the conference tourney begins March 8.

"It's crunch time," said Pastujov. "Our games are numbered now, and we know where we stand in the standings. So, every point counts. Every game counts."

Michael Pastujov
Pastujov's goal early in the second period gave the Wolverines the lead for good.

Pastujov is up to eight goals for the season and now ranks fifth on the team in that department. Lockwood has a dozen, and Slaker, Josh Norris (out for the season with an injury suffered playing for the U.S. silver medal-winning World Juniors team) and older brother Nick Pastujov are tied for second with 10 goals apiece.

Nick, a junior center on the No. 1 line with Lockwood and Becker, was a seventh-round pick by the New York Islanders in 2016. Michael wasn't drafted, making him a free agent, but he attended the Detroit Red Wings' development camp in the summer of 2017.

Michael played two seasons for the U.S. National Team Development Program that was in Ann Arbor and is now located in nearby Plymouth. He was part of the U.S. gold medal-winner in the U-18 World Championship in Slovakia in 2017 and won gold at the U-18 Five Nations Tournament in 2016 and 2017.

The younger Pastujov, who scored five goals as a freshman and had a big one in the Frozen Four semifinal loss to Notre Dame in St. Paul, Minnesota, has the potential to be a special player.

But he wasn't doing anything very special at all until Pearson sat him down for that heart-to-heart talk that reconnected him to all that potential.

Michael Pastujov ended up being a big reason why it was a happy 60th birthday for his coach.

"You're not going to find many birthday presents that beat that," said Pearson, a native of Flin Flon, Manitoba, Canada. "Beating Michigan State in front of a full house at Yost Ice Arena when we're tied in the standings. Thank you. Thank you to the team. I'm sure they weren't worried about that when they played the game.

"We didn't play our best game. We got some bounces and breaks and the puck went in for us tonight. We finally got some (scoring) separation and haven't done that many times on a team. You could tell we haven't played with that lead very often lately, and we get away from our game. We get up a bit and do some things or take a bad penalty. We've got to clean some things up. We have to be better tomorrow."

It's all about improvement, and there aren't many better examples of how important that is than Michael Pastujov.