By Dan Stillman
Daily Sports Writer
Believe it or not, the Michigan hockey team has a significant weakness - at least it did.
Saturday night against Bowling Green, the Wolverines generated a single-period season-high 26 shots on goal, three of which went in, during a frantic second period to take a commanding three-goal lead.
Michigan (16-1-2 CCHA, 25-1-3 overall) went on to defeat Bowling Green (8-10-3, 13-12-3), 6-1 in front of 6,687 at sold-out Yost Ice Arena.
The victory extended the Wolverines' unbeaten streak to 22, breaking the previous school record of 21, which spanned the end of the 1947-48 season and the beginning of the '48-'49 campaign.
Before its last two games, Michigan had struggled during in the second period. The Wolverines had scored 35 goals in the middle stanza for the season, far less than the 66 and 57 goals they had compiled in the first and third periods, respectively.
Michigan has also faltered defensively in the second period this season, allowing 44 more shots on goal than in the first.
But suddenly, the Wolverines' biggest weakness has become their strength.
Saturday night's second-period performance was preceded by another three-goal effort in the second period of Thursday night's game at Ohio State.
"We've been talking to our psychologist Hugh Bray about (second-period problems) a bit," Michigan forward Jason Botterill said. "It's a situation where we got in a little bit of a lull in the month of January there in the second periods. We sort of put the second period as the period to separate ourselves from our competition.
"It's good to, each period, have a focus. First period, we want to focus on setting the tone early, and the third period, we just want to find a way to win. I think now that we have a good clear focus on what we want to do in the second period, it's helping us out a lot."
It looked like it was going to be another rough second period for Michigan on Saturday night when Bowling Green scored 1 1/2 minutes into the stanza to tie the game at one.
But the Wolverines took back the lead 28 seconds later when center Mike Legg hacked in a rebound that seemed to sit in the crease forever before he finally got his stick on it.
"I saw it lying there and I was waiting to get hit and I was sort of bracing myself," Legg said. "I was trying to pull it and shoot it in and it was just sitting there. The goalie sort of made a move for it and I sort of hacked it."
It was the second straight game that Michigan let up a goal in the second period and then came back to score less than 30 seconds later.
"You bounce back right away and I think that's what makes a winning team," Botterill said. "If we can do that it just deflates their team right away."
Michigan extended its lead to 3-1 midway through the second on the power play when Jason Botterill scored the first of his three goals of the night.
After a slapshot rebounded off Bowling Green goaltender Bob Petrie, several Wolverines swiped at the puck before Botterill finally put it in.
Botterill scored again 3:32 later to put the Falcons away.
The victory keeps the Wolverines three points ahead of Lake Superior State at the top of the CCHA and five points ahead of Miami (Ohio). With a loss, Michigan State dropped to seven points behind first.
The Wolverines face both Lake Superior and Michigan State this coming weekend at Joe Louis Arena.
After a quiet first 19:04 of the opening period, Michigan forward Warren Luhning opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal when his slapshot from inside the right point beat Petrie.
The teams went a combined 0-for-5 on the power play in a slow first period before the action picked up in the second.
Brendan Morrison would add a power-play goal midway through the third period, followed by a shorthanded conversion from Botterill which capped the scoring.
MARK FRIEDMAN/Daily
Bowling Green's Dave Faulkner tried to corral Brendan Morrison, but just like most of Michigan's opponents this season, he couldn't. Morrison scored his 21st goal of the season in the Wolverines' 6-1 victory over the Falcons on Saturday night.