Malone, Esposito Lead Men's Hockey's Second Rout of ASU

TEMPE, Ariz. — Tack on another touchdown for the Harvard men’s hockey team.

Behind another explosive showing from its senior-laden second line, the No. 13/13 Crimson took care of business out west for the second consecutive night in a 6-2 win Saturday night against Arizona State.

Harvard (2-0-0) was far from flawless—hence the missed point after—but seven nonfictional points from members of the second unit ultimately proved to be more than enough against the Sun Devils. Sean Malone logged two goals and an assist, Luke Esposito did the reverse, and Tyler Moy recorded a helper of his own.

“It was nice to see my line click all weekend,” said Esposito, dawning the Crimson’s Player of the Game hat after the contest. “Those guys are unbelievable—not just putting the puck in the net, but [with] the cycles we were able to establish and [keeping] the pressure on those guys.”

The Crimson celebrates after picking up its second consecutive win to open the year. By Jake Meagher

Although the game remained in hand for the majority of the night, no play from the second line proved more salient than one executed 3:50 into the third period.

Less than a minute prior, ASU (1-7-0) had struck gold for the first time all weekend, bringing the score to 3-1 with plenty of hockey remaining. But the Harvard second line needed just one rush to suck the momentum out of the building. Having gained a step on his defender, Malone cruised up the left wing and went stick-side high on sophomore goaltender Ryland Pashovitz to push the score to 4-1.

“Their response to [ASU’s] first goal was important,” Harvard coach Ted Donato ’91 said. “To get it right to a three-goal lead was a big turning point in the game.”

“All we could do is respond,” Malone said. “And we went right down and scored. Those are the responses you need if you’re going to win games.”

Malone’s first goal of the season was a welcoming sight for Donato, who had been critical of his team’s play late in the second period and early in the third, pointing specifically to slow defending and an increasing number of ‘long home run passes.’

Donato let his guys hear it, and the message did not go unreceived. Malone’s goal was the first of three for the Crimson in the third, as co-captain Devin Tringale scored two minutes later and Malone would eventually tack on another. Freshman Adam Fox delivered a lofting chip from his own zone to Tringale, who eluded a charging goaltender to poke in his first goal of the year. Then at 17:12, Malone finished five-hole from his backhand to cap the offensive outburst.

While Harvard certainly did more with its opportunities than the hosts, the Sun Devils actually outshot the Crimson in each of the last two periods. ASU finally saw its efforts pay off in the third when graduate student Robbie Baillargeon—a former Boston University Terrier—knocked in two separate rebounds in front of junior goaltender Merrick Madsen, perhaps giving the hosts something to build on as they march forward as perpetual underdogs in their first full Division I season.

“That’s a hell of a team,” ASU coach Greg Powers said. “But like I told our guys, I thought we were probably better the last 30 minutes tonight. If we can string together 60 minutes of playing that kind of hockey, we’re going to get some wins. We are.”

“But you have to do it for 60 against teams like Harvard,” he added. “You can’t do it for 30.”

The first 30 minutes were largely a continuation of Friday’s 7-0 rout, as the Crimson netted the night’s first three tallies. In an opening period where the two teams combined for eight penalties—and perhaps more impressively, seven varying infractions—Harvard quickly set the tone with a pair of power-play conversions. Junior Seb Lloyd tipped home a Clay Anderson drive at 12:09, and Esposito flipped a shot over the shoulder of Pashovitz from his left post at 17:39.

Assisting on both goals was sophomore defenseman Viktor Dombrovskiy, who entered Saturday’s contest with none through his first 11 games of collegiate action. The blue line was clicking all weekend, not only putting together a 103-minute shutout streak to open the trip but also providing a touch of offense with one goal and 10 assists.

The lone goal of the second period belonged to junior Jake Horton, who received a feed from Lloyd in the slot and picked the top right corner of the net at 5:40 to put the Crimson up 3-0.

That scoreline ultimately ballooned into a 6-2 final, but given the state of the Sun Devils, the result was hardly unexpected. Yet, the weekend series was designed to serve a variety of purposes: For Harvard, to test out its new-look lines and pairings ahead of its ECAC opener next weekend. For ASU, to host more premier competition and further legitimize its growing program.

“We’re so thankful and incredibly grateful to their coaching staff—Coach Donato and Pearl,” Powers said. “In our first full year to have such a historic, successful program come out here when we don’t have a permanent home yet and you deal with two different venues, it speaks to how classy they are and that program is.”