Ohio State win streak ends after Notre Dame 5-2 defeat

Follow-up shots may have prevented the Buckeyes from sweeping their weekend series against Notre Dame Saturday night. 

Ohio State (9-9-4, 1-9-2 Big Ten) fell to Notre Dame (11-11-2, 5-7-2 Big Ten) 5-2 in Value City Arena at the Schottenstein Center due to a common trend that persisted throughout the game.

Lifted by the second period, which saw the Fighting Irish outscore the Buckeyes 2-0, Notre Dame’s senior captain Landon Slaggert made all the difference. The Chicago Blackhawks prospect scored two goals in two separate periods, propelling Notre Dame over the Buckeyes.

Ohio State head coach Steve Rohlik gave the start to freshman goalie Kristoffer Eberly, who is in a tight goaltender competition. Despite the loss, Rohlik said he believes Eberly performed well but the team has to do a better job of helping him.

“I think both our goalies have been really good in practice, and I think Ebs played great tonight,” Rohlik said. “We just did not support him.” 

The first period was one for the fans as it featured four goals and a two-goal comeback from the Buckeyes.

Notre Dame’s senior forward Grant Silianoff started the goal fest, grabbing his goal off of an offensive zone faceoff. The Fighting Irish have made the faceoff dot a specialty of theirs, as they came into Saturday’s contest ranked ninth in collegiate hockey with a 54.1% win rate. 

It did not take long for the Fighting Irish to double their lead. Eighty-five seconds after the Silianoff goal, Slaggert scored what would be his first of two goals of the evening.

The Buckeyes managed to cut Notre Dame’s lead in half as a neutral zone turnover led to a two-men breakaway for freshman forward Max Montes, who tucked away a cross-crease pass from senior forward Joe Dunlap. 

The common theme of the game was immediate follow-up goals as the Buckeyes evened the score with a slot wrist shot by sophomore forward and leading Ohio State point-getter Stephen Halliday. 

Notre Dame continued its scoring in the second period when it broke the tie off of a tic-tac-toe goal scored by graduate forward and New Jersey Devils prospect Patrick Moynihan 13 minutes into the second period.

As the Fighting Irish continued scoring, they also continued the common theme of the game. 

Less than two minutes after the Moynihan…