Michigan State positioned to earn Big Ten title in Madison after bounce-back win over Ohio State

After suffering an embarrassing loss to Ohio State on Friday night, the Michigan State hockey team bounced back strong with a 5-2 victory over the Buckeyes at Munn Ice Arena on Saturday night.

Michigan State won this game on the strength of its power play. The Spartans skated with a man advantage four times and scored three power-play goals.

“Ton of respect for (Ohio State), they made it hard on us,” said Michigan State coach Adam Nightingale in his postgame radio interview, “but obviously the power-play was good and won us the game.”

With the win, the Spartans (21-8-3, 15-5-2) hold a two-point lead over second-place Wisconsin (24-8-2, 15-6-1) ahead of the Big Ten regular series finale in Madison against the Badgers next weekend. A win over Wisconsin on Friday or Saturday night would clinch an outright Big Ten championship for the Spartans.

The Spartans need two of six possible points to share a Big Ten title with Wisconsin. If Michigan State gets three points or more it will not only win the Big Ten regular season championship outright, but also clinch home ice throughout the Big Ten hockey tournament.

“Obviously, you’d love to do it at home, but when you talk about development and building, you look for opportunities and this is a big one for us,” Nightingale said.

CHASING BANNERS

Michigan State is seeking its first regular season conference championship since 2000-01 when the Spartans were in the CCHA.

The Spartans have one Top 5 finish since the formation of Big Ten hockey conference. They placed second in 2014-15.

Michigan State finished no higher than sixth place out of seven Big Ten teams in the six seasons prior to Nightingale’s hire in 2022. In year one, Nightingale guided Michigan State to its first winning record since 2014-2015.

After finishing 17-16-2 last season, Michigan State is in position to win a conference championship. Nightingale deserves a lot of credit, but he hasn’t done it alone.

Seniors Nash Nienhuis, Nicolas Müller, James Crossman, Jeremy Davidson, Reed Lebster, and Jon Mor have helped re-establish the culture of Spartan hockey. Each were honored in a senior day ceremony following Saturday’s win.

“What a special night for our seniors,” Nightingale said “I thought the crowd was awesome. They were into it and the way they stuck around after the game for our guys, it shows the support our guys get, it’s pretty special.”

POWER-PLAY FUELS MICHIGAN STATE BOUNCE-BACK

Coming off the disappointment of a 6-2 loss to Ohio State on Friday night, Michigan State wanted to uncomplicate the game.

“We wanted to play the more direct,” Nightingale said. “I thought we got cutesy at times, but when a team defends hard that can happen.”

Michigan State is now moving into the part of the calendar when flat performances end seasons.

“I think the group has shown their ability to respond,” Nightingale said. “They want to be coached. Our job is to show them this is not okay, or this is okay. We talked about it after the game, I am proud at their ability to respond, but we are getting to the point where we aren’t going to have an opportunity to respond and we have to make sure that we play our best in every game from here on out.”

Michigan State took control of the game in the second period. Tied 1-1 entering the period, Ohio State had momentum early. The Spartans took it back on a Patrick Geary goal midway through second period. After regaining the lead, Michigan State received power-play goals from Gavin O’Connell and Isaac Howard while Ohio State’s Patrick Guzzo was serving a five-minute major for a hit from behind.

“I think that is what the second period is about, not overcomplicating,” Nightingale said. “If it doesn’t go your way you’ve got to stay with playing fast, and playing behind them, and trying to catch them in changes. I thought as the period went on we were able to do that. We wore them down, earning a five-minute penalty and were able to capitalize a couple of time.”

Daniel Russell netted Michigan State’s final power-play score with an insurance goal in the third period.

 Karsen Dorwart opened the scoring in the first period to give Michigan State a 1-0 lead, with Russell and Artyom Leshunov assisting.

Ohio State tied the game with an unassisted goal minutes after Dorwart scored.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

Michigan State outshot the Buckeyes 34-30.

The Spartans were 3-for-4 on the power-play, one night after going 1-for-4.

Dorwart, Howard, O’Connell, Geary and Russell scored goals for Michigan State. Dorwart and Howard each added two assists. O’Connell and Russell had one assist apiece. Matt Basgall, Tanner Kelly, Artyom Levshunov and Tiernan Shoudy each had assists for Michigan State.

Goaltender Trey Augustine made 28 saves on 30 shots. Senior reserve Jon Mor came in for the last 26 seconds. It was his first Big Ten appearance.