Karsen Dorwart breaks goal slump, leads Michigan State to 8-3 win over Notre Dame

No. 4 ranked Michigan State (8-1, 3-0) moved to 3-0 in Big Ten play with a hard-fought 8-3 victory over Notre Dame on Friday night at Munn Ice Arena. This game was close for two periods, before the Spartans used their depth to relentlessly pressure the Fighting Irish on their end of the ice, and score three unanswered goals in the final period.

“We know when we play our way that we are going to win,” said junior forward Karsen Dorwart, who scored his first two goals of the season in the win over Notre Dame. “I think that you saw that we wore them down tonight. It is not easy to do that, and sometimes you get away from that. It’s just making sure that we do that for a full 60 minutes and using our speed and conditioning.”

A double-digit goal scorer for Michigan State both a true freshman and a sophomore, Dorwart was understandably relieved to break his season-long goal-scoring drought.

“It feels great just to get the monkey off the back,” said Dorwart. “I didn’t start the season off great in my first couple of games, but I feel like I got that trending in the right direction today.”

After Dorwart scored the final Spartan goal of the second period to give Michigan State a 5-3 lead, he opened the scoring in the third period for the Spartans with a power-play goal just five minutes into the period. His power play goal was the first of three third-period goals for the Spartans.

After Dorwart gave the Spartans a 6-3 lead on the power play, the Spartans poured on two more goals in the third period. Mikey DeAngelo chased Notre Dame goalie Owen Say from the game with his goal midway through the final period. David Gucciardi closed out the scoring for Michigan State with a short-handed goal with under a minute remaining.

Outshot by Notre Dame through two periods, Michigan State outshot Notre Dame 19-6 in the final period. Say had been one of the hottest goalies in the Big Ten coming into Friday night’s game. The Mercyhurst transfer ranked second among Big Ten goalies in save percentage prior to giving up seven goals the Spartans.

“When you score like that, you are going to have to get some bounces for sure,” said Michigan State coach Adam Nightingale in his postgame radio interview.

All four Michigan State lines scored goals on Friday night against Notre Dame.

Michigan State goal Trey Augustine worked hard to limit Notre Dame to three goals. The Spartan goalie had 27 saves on the night against a Fighting Irish team that outshot the Michigan State 24-22 through two periods and had several high-quality scoring chances during the first two periods.

Michigan State returns to Munn Ice Arena on Saturday night at 8:00 pm, looking for its second straight series sweep in Big Ten play. The Spartans swept Ohio State last weekend.

Michigan State was one of three Big Ten teams with blemish-free records in conference play entering the weekend along with Minnesota and Michigan. If Michigan State beats Notre Dame on Saturday night, the Spartans will be tied with Minnesota atop the Big Ten standings at 4-0.

Notre Dame punched with Michigan State for two periods

The Fighting Irish play a slower puck-control style than Michigan State, but that grinding style did not prevent Notre Dame from generating quality scoring chances in the Spartan zone, by simply beating Michigan State defenders down the ice and peppering Augustine with shots.

After breaking through with two first-period goals against Notre Dame, the Spartans netted three goals in the second period to take control of this game, as Joey Larson, Charlie Stramel, and Dorwart each scored goals in middle period to give the Spartans a 5-3 lead heading into the second intermission.

This game was back-and-forth for two periods as Notre Dame evened the game, 2-2, on a power play goal by Danny Nelson early in the second period. Later in the second period, Notre Dame took advantage of sloppy defensive play by Michigan State to tie the game again, this time on a goal by Michael Mastrodomenico with Jack Larrigan assisting midway through the second period.

Just 13 seconds after Mastrodomenico tied the game in the second period, Charlie Stramel regained the lead for Michigan State with Matt Basgall and Gavin O’Connell assisting. Minutes after Stramel’s goal, the Spartans got some breathing room with a two-goal lead as Dorwart scored his first goal of the season to give Michigan State a 5-3 lead.  

Notre Dame got on the board early in the first period as Danny Nelson gave the Fighting Irish a 1-0 lead with Michael Mastrodomenico assisting on the goal a little more than a minute into the game.

Tiernan Shoudy had the answer for Michigan State, evening the score with a one-timer in front of the Notre Dame net. Minutes later Spartan captain Red Savage smoked a puck between the legs of Say for a short-handed go-ahead goal with teammate Charlie Stramel in the penalty box for high sticking. After taking 2-1 lead on Savage’s shorthanded goal, the Spartans effectively killed the Stramel penalty.

Nelson tied the game 2-2 on a power-play goal for Notre Dame early in the second period with Patrick Geary in the penalty box for cross-checking. Joey Larson recaptured the lead for Michigan State, 3-2, with a power-play goal of his own minutes after Nelson tied it with his second goal of the game for Notre Dame.

With Friday’s win over Notre Dame, Michigan State has now one six straight games since losing to then No. 2 Boston College.