Daniel Russell scores with :04 seconds left to lift No. 7 Michigan State past No. 9 Minnesota, 3-2
East Lansing, Mich. – The thrills keep coming for Michigan State hockey. Six days after an improbable comeback win at Michigan, the Spartans staged another night to remember on Friday, when Daniel Russell scored with :04 seconds left to lift No. 7 Michigan State to a 3-2 victory over No. 9 Minnesota.
Michigan State entered the third period trailing 2-0, and had only three shots on goal in the second period, but the Spartans rallied for all three goals in the final period, sending a sold out crowd of 6,555 at Munn Ice Arena into a tizzy.
“I thought the roof was going to come down after the winner and the (game-tying goal),” said Michigan State head coach Adam Nightingale. “The crowds have been unbelievable. It was a special night for sure.”
Freshman winger Griffin Jurecki (5-10, Grosse Ile) started the comeback with a goal 2:36 into the third period. It was his first career goal, coming in his sixth game as a Spartan. He moved into the lineup as a fourth-line forward last week at Michigan and got the call again on this night.
Then sophomore center Karsen Dorwart (6-1, Sherwood, Ore.) tied the game at 2-2 with 4:58 remaining.
“After Kar scored, the whole place was buzzing,” said Russell (5-9, Soph., Traverse City). “And throughout the rest of the game it was just super loud and super good energy. It really helped us a lot get back in the game.”
THE BIG PICTURE
Michigan State improves to 17-5-3 overall, and 11-2-2 in the Big Ten.
Minnesota, which had won five straight games, fell to 14-7-4 and 7-5-3-1 in the Big Ten.
Last Saturday, Michigan State fell behind Michigan 4-1, but scored five straight goals en route to a 7-5 victory. Similar energy and adjustments shone through in this game.
“I loved our response,” Nightingale said. “Obviously you don’t want to be put in that position but that’s our sport, that can happen. And it’s all about how you respond and I was proud of our response. That doesn’t happen often.
“Against a good team, you are going to have to earn everything. I thought we cranked up, and what a finish.”
The two teams will play again at 4 p.m. on Saturday (Big Ten Network).
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Maxim Strbak (6-2, Fr., Košice, Slovakia) and David Gucciardi (6-1, Jr., Toronto) assisted on Jurecki’s goal.
Tommi Männistö (6-0, Fr., Riihimäki, Finland) assisted on Dorwart’s goal.
Isaac Howard (5-11, Soph., Hudson, Wis.) and Strbǎk assisted on Russell’s game-winner.
Mike Koster and Oliver Moore scored for Minnesota.
Each team had 30 shots on goal.
SHORT-HANDED LIFT
Michigan State killed all five Minnesota power play opportunities on the night, including two in the third period.
Michigan State scored a short-handed goal on one of those penalty kill situations when Mannisto set the table for Dorwart by blazing up the ice with the puck and creating a rebound opportunity.
“He (Männistö) made a great play just holding his ground on the kill,” Nightingale said. “He was disciplined. He wasn’t cheating and looking for offense. If you do it the right way, you’re not always going to get rewarded. But he can really skate. He used his speed and beat their player and made a good move on the goalie.
“And Karsen, to stop at the net, those are things that we harp on our guys and still have to get better at, but when you get rewarded on something like that, that’s a good thing.”
As for the penalty kills, Nightingale said: “It starts with your goaltender. He’s your best penalty killer.”
Trey Augustine turned away 28 shots.
“It starts with your goalie, it starts with winning face-offs, it starts with clears and I thought we got all of those,” he said.
Defenseman Matt Basgall (5-10, Soph., Lake Forest, Ill.) blocked some shots along the way.
WHAT CHANGED?
Michigan State did well from a territorial and possession standpoint for two periods but somehow that didn’t translate to many shots on goal.
After being outshot 22-13 through the first two periods and having trouble getting anything through Minnesota’s defense, the Spartans outshot the Gophers 17-8 in the third.
“That whole third period, we played determined hockey,” Nightingale said. “We did a better job offensively of not complicating it. We did a better job of getting pucks through. We did a better job of breaking out, playing north and getting the puck to our forwards. The forwards have a responsibility to get open. I thought we did a better of getting open and the guy hit them (with passes).
“We needed to make the decision if we were going to get to the hard areas. They did a good job of making it hard on us. We needed to play with a little more hard skill.
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“We stayed with it. I didn’t think there was a ton going on (in the second period). It was a little bit like a playoff game. There wasn’t a ton of easy ice out there.
“Credit to them, but we were playing on the outside, passed up some shots. We had opportunities to get it up to the point and we wanted to be cute with it. If you become cute … you just have to put it there repeatedly. And you have to make sure guys are going there without the puck, and you put it there. Obviously we did that in the third.
“You’ve got to play with hard skill at this time of year. I think that showed on Griff’s goal. Max, heck of a job putting the puck down in there and letting our competitive nature take over in front of the net.
“And on Tommi’s goal, Tommi’s effort on the shorty and Karsen’s detail in front of the net. And big-time play by Ike and Russ to finish it.”
THE HERO MOMENT
Daniel Russell, the son of former Spartan great Kerry Russell, is the last guy seeking to be a hero, but maybe the most deserving of it at this juncture.
Russell has been a quick, scrappy play-maker all year as the right wing on Dorwart’s line, the so-called No. 1 line.
He was Michigan State’s second-leading scorer last year with 30 points but had been in a slump recently, with only one goal in the past 13 games.
However, he tallied one of the most memorable goals of the last few years on Friday night at Munn.
“Danny brings a lot more than just scoring,” Nightingale said. “You talk about a guy that does it right every day. I could argue he has been our best forward on a lot of days. The effort he made on the backcheck to catch a guy, those are things that we value.”
That play came early in the second period with Michigan State trailing 1-0 when he raced back to break up a Gopher 3-on-1 rush.
“What I like about Danny is it’s always about trying to make Spartan hockey great,” Nightingale said. “It’s not about him or his pro career. And I think he has a really good chance at it (a pro career). He’s a really underrated player and we’re fortunate we have him. It was good to see him get rewarded.”
Russell credited Howard with creating the chance, as most of the Munn crowd watched the final seconds from their feet.
“Ike made a great play,” Russell said. “I had the back door. I was just trying to get it on net. Their goalie made a great save. I was kind of rattled in my head. At first I tipped it and then banged in the rebound. That was awesome.
“Last week shows that we can come back against anyone and really takeover the game when we need to.”
Said Nightingale: “To get rewarded there at the end, that was big-time. I thought the crowd was great. now it’s about moving on to tomorrow.”
