Familiar problems sink UConn's season in loss to Michigan State

UConn’s season came to an end on Thursday with a 2-1 loss to Michigan State in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. The Huskies held a 42-22 advantage in shots, took fewer penalties and certainly weren’t outclassed against the No. 3 overall team in the land. But, as was the case in the Hockey East final against Merrimack, they just couldn’t find a way to win.

“I was proud of our team. I thought they battled hard for sixty minutes,” head coach Mike Cavanaugh said. “All I ask of them every game is to just give it everything they have in them. They emptied their tank today and unfortunately, it didn’t work out for us.”

“I thought UConn was really good. I thought they were the better team,” Michigan State coach Adam Nightingale said postgame.

There was plenty that the Huskies couldn’t control. Spartan goaltender Trey Augustine was spectacular in net — “the best player on the ice by a country mile,” Nightingale said. Michigan State scored its opening goal on the power play after a soft roughing penalty against Ethan Gardula. They were robbed on a man-advantage late when Anthony Allain-Samaké was given a phantom matching minor after getting cross-checked after the whistle.

Ultimately, the same problems that plagued UConn throughout the season led to its downfall. The Huskies struggled to convert chances into goals, came up short on special teams and were undone by a defensive zone turnover.

UConn finished with just one goal on 42 shots — a 2.4 shooting percentage. Augustine is largely responsible for that, turning away 17 shots below the dots and 33 inside the house. Still, the Huskies didn’t create enough second chances, missed the net 12 times and had another eight more blocked by the defense.

“I thought our D were really good on the backside, on the back post today.
There was a couple opportunities where there’s a rebound there and our D did a really good job,” Nightingale said. “Our D did a heck of a job on the second opportunities.

When UConn did get into dangerous spots, it didn’t challenge Augustine well enough. The Huskies either missed the net, hit the post or simply didn’t put a strong enough shot on target.

On the season, UConn finished with 116 goals, second-most in its Hockey East Era. Yet the Huskies’ offense never seemed to reach its full potential. While that problem reared its head in the final two games, it’s been an issue since October. Against Ohio State, UConn consistently generated — and squandered — grade-A chances. The same thing happened in a loss to BU the following weekend. Rarely did the Huskies feel like they were finding the back of the net with ease.

The power play could’ve helped on Thursday but it went 0-5. The unit was a major reason for the Huskies’ success in 2024-25, converting at a 23.1 percent clip while scoring in the final 10 games of the regular season. This year, UConn was too inconsistent with the extra skater. It finished 21.4 on the man-advantage but failed to score over the last three contests. A single tally against the Spartans would’ve completely changed the game. But it never came.

When the unit set up, it typically executed well. But getting to that point proved to be a struggle at times.

“I thought they had some good looks, some really good looks. We saw a bunch of shots up top and across the net,” Cavanaugh said of the power play. “We did have a little trouble at times getting into the zone. I didn’t think our entries were clean all the time.”

Meanwhile, the Huskies’ penalty kill ranked 40th nationally at 79.0 percent. Not only did it perform better last season at 81.5 percent, it also scored nine shorthanded goals. That number dropped to four this year.

On Michigan State’s first power play, Ryker Lee walked straight in on net and beat Tyler Muszelik. While the Spartan forward went top-shelf with a nasty shot, UConn should’ve prevented him from getting it off in the first place.

Finally, just like in the Hockey East title game, the final nail in the coffin came courtesy of a defensive zone turnover. Mike Murtagh tried to drop a pass for Kai Janviriya at the top of the circles in UConn’s defensive zone but overshot the defenseman. Porter Martone picked it up, gave it to Tiernan Shoudy and then got it right back for a one-timer that put Michigan State ahead 2-1 with 8:06 remaining.

From the opening weekend in Colorado through to the NCAA regional semifinal in Worcester, the Huskies consistently struggled with d-zone giveaways. At times, they hid the problem, but they never fixed it.

Perhaps if UConn avoided one of its three bugaboo — either by scoring another goal, having a better day on special teams or not giving up the backbreaking turnover — it could’ve knocked off the Spartans and advanced on. But they were bound to come back and bite the Huskies at some point. That proved to be Thursday.

Over UConn’s final two contests, it outshot its opponents 92-47 but lost both contests by the same score, 2-1. Throughout the year — especially during the second half — they seemed to win games when they didn’t play well and lost them when they were at their best.

That’s hockey.

“It's a funny game like that sometimes,” Cavanaugh said.