Moyle's Third-Period Tally Propels U-M to Victory Over No. 17 WMU

Friday, October 28

Ann Arbor, Mich.

7:00 PM

Michigan

6-1-0

Western Michigan

5-3-0

Western Mich.

Michigan

Nolan Moyle (Michigan Photography)

Moyle's Third-Period Tally Propels U-M to Victory Over No. 17 WMU

10/28/2022 10:15:00 PM | Ice Hockey

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Kristy McNeil

» Senior captain Nolan Moyle scored the game-winning goal, his first marker of the season.
» Freshman Jackson Hallum's two points paced the Wolverines.
» Adam Fantilli extended his career-opening point streak to seven games with a breakaway goal.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Captain Nolan Moyle notched the game-winning goal with 9:02 left in the third period on Friday night (Oct. 28) inside a spirited, sold-out Yost Ice Arena as the fourth-ranked University of Michigan ice hockey team outlasted No. 17-ranked Western Michigan in a 5-4 non-conference match-up.

Junior goalie Erik Portillo was stout in net for the Wolverines, turning aside 31 of 35 shots that he faced from a potent Western Michigan offense to earn his sixth win of the season.

Early on, the visitors opened the scoring with a strike from the point at 4:16 of the first period.

Not long after, Michigan's fantastic freshmen teamed up to tie the game when Jackson Hallum finished off a Seamus Casey attempt at 5:22. Mark Estapa earned the secondary assist.

In the opening minutes of the second period, a pair of freshmen forwards extended point streaks with much-needed goals to give Michigan a two-goal lead.

First, it was Adam Fantilli, who continued his fantastic play by creating a turnover while WMU attempted to keep the puck in the Michigan end. After poking the puck into open ice in the neutral zone, Fantilli carved in on Western's net, using his body to shield the puck before drawing the disc close and ripping a wrist shot to the top of the Bronco net, giving Michigan a 2-1 lead 3:33 into the second period.

With the goal, Fantilli pushed his scorching-hot career-opening point streak to seven games and padded his nationwide scoring lead with his sixth goal and 16th point of the season.

Looking to extend a scoring streak of his own to five games, freshman T.J. Hughes took advantage of a defensive lapse in the WMU zone to deposit the puck into an empty cage and extend the Michigan lead to 3-1 at 5:09. Steven Holtz picked up the lone assist on a play that saw the Bronco goalie leave his crease in hopes of disrupting a rush for the Wolverines.

Western Michigan struck back with a tic-tac-toe goal in transition with 2:23 remaining in the middle frame to cut the visitor's deficit to 3-2.

Seventy-seven seconds later, WMU was opportunistic in taking advantage of a net-front scrum that pushed Portillo out of position away from the blue paint. The Broncos wasted no time before burying the puck into the open net to tie the game at 3-3.

On the shift following Western's game-tying goal, the Wolverines rushed into the offensive zone and just barely kept the possession alive when Luke Hughes made a great play at the blue line to prevent the puck from leaving the zone. After collecting Hughes' pass, Mackie Samoskevich skated in and roofed a perfectly placed backhand shot past Western's goaltender to pull Michigan back ahead, 4-3. Jacob Truscott collected the secondary assist by dumping the puck into the zone and kicking off the possession from center ice.

After two periods of closely contested play, Michigan carried a 4-3 lead up the steps into the dressing room despite trailing in shots on goal (23-18) and faceoffs (19-15).

Western started a power play 5:17 into the third period when Moyle was penalized for interference. Twenty-nine seconds into the man advantage, the Broncos knocked home a rebound opportunity to tie the game at 4-4 and set up a chaotic endgame.

The captain quickly made things right by finishing off a breakaway chance that was created by the clever stickwork of Hallum. After Western won a faceoff in the Michigan zone, Hallum exploded through the circle to apply pressure to the Bronco puck carrier and create a turnover. As Moyle collected the puck, he quickly reached top speed as he barreled down the ice. As he broke in on the WMU crease, the fifth-year senior uncorked his first goal of the season with a crisp wrist shot to put Michigan back in front, 5-4, with 9:02 left in regulation.

With Western's net empty, the teams battled from end-to-end, with the Broncos searching for an extra-attacker tally while the Wolverines flipped a pair of long attempts to the endwall in pursuit of an empty-net, game-icing goal.

Tomorrow night (Oct. 29), the non-conference home-and-home series migrates west along I-94 to Lawson Ice Arena in Kalamazoo, where Michigan leads the Broncos, 28-17-8, in addition to holding an overall series lead of 75-36-10. Puck drop for the back end of the twinbill is set for 6 p.m., and will be streamed live on NCHC.tv.