ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Mac Bennett scored with 1:35 remaining in the third period to lift No. 3 Michigan to a 5-4 win at Ohio State on Monday night inside Value City Arena. The Wolverines, playing in their first Big Ten road game, have now won four in a row and 10 of 13 to start the season.
JT Compher had his first career two-goal game, and Michael Downing and Zach Hyman each added their first goals of the season to lead the Wolverines, who have scored 19 times in their past four games.
Goaltender Steve Racine, making his first start in net since Nov. 16 at Nebraska-Omaha, made 39 saves to improve to 4-0-1 on the season despite Ohio State outshooting Michigan 12-4 in the first period and 43-26 for the game.
With the game still scoreless late in the period, Racine made his best stop of the frame after OSU's Matt Johnson found an open lane following a neutral-zone turnover. Johnson's wrist shot from the high slot was squeezed by Racine at the 12:00 mark.
Minutes later, Hyman notched his first goal of the season on Michigan's second shot of the period. Cristoval 'Boo' Nieves made a backhand pass from behind the OSU net to Hyman, who beat Davis between the pads at 14:04 to put U-M up 1-0.
The Buckeyes evened the score early in the second period on a breakaway by leading scorer Ryan Dzingel, who flipped a backhander past Racine at 3:57 to tie the game at 1-1.
A little more than a minute later, the Wolverines regained the lead with the two teams skating four on four. Alex Guptill won a faceoff back to Nolan De Jong, who fired a shot through traffic on net. The puck deflected to Compher for a tap-in goal at 5:06, his fourth of the season.
Compher added another goal later in the period at 14:03 on a similar play, putting in a rebound off a hard shot on net by Luke Moffatt, who recorded his second assist of the night on the play.
Early on the third period, Downing scored his first collegiate goal and first by a U-M defenseman at 2:49 on a slap shot from the left point. Alex Kile set up the goal with a nice move to gain the zone, and Travis Lynch added an assist on the play.
U-M killed off five consecutive OSU power plays to start the game, but the Buckeyes capitalized on their sixth opportunity midway through the third period to cut U-M's lead to 4-2.
The Buckeyes made it a one-goal game at 13:13 and tied the contest on the man-advantage at 14:31.
On Michigan's game winner, Mike Chiasson circled back along the side boards and waited for Bennett, who cut to the net. Chiasson fed Bennett with a pass across the goal mouth, and he found the open net.
