Saturday games are almost always a little grittier.

6 goals Friday, 1 last night. 6 against WI on Friday, 2 on Saturday. For 6 straight series we have scored the same (1) or fewer goals on the second night.

Last night was a little bit puck luck and a little bit Drew DeRidder playing well and making some big saves, especially in the third. Statistically speaking, DeRidder is the better goalie, but not by much. We hit a couple of pipes, Nardella missed a wide open net a couple minutes before he buried a magnificent goal, and another player missed a wide open net when he couldn't settle a puck rolling on it's side.

Anecdotally I also think the instances of scoring fewer goals the second night increase as the season goes on, as teams simply become familiar with each other, and more video is available to study. Putting video together with what you saw live the previous night seems to make for a lot of dropoff on Saturdays.

Notre Dame also lost a few more opportunities last night with missed passes and icing that I didn't see Friday (I missed the first period of Friday's game as I was not home yet). Plus, after posting a +9 over the last 3 games, the O'Leary, Malmquist, Graham line was due to slow down a bit, and they were kept off the scoresheet.