No. 20 Notre Dame tops No. 8 Michigan State, 4-1; rematch set for Saturday
No. 20-ranked Notre Dame used three third-period goals, including a late empty-netter, to defeat No. 8 Michigan State, 4-1, Friday night at the Compton Family Ice Arena in South Bend, Ind.
Michigan State led 1-0 midway through the second period after an Isaac Howard goal, his sixth of the season. But the Irish tied it just :26 seconds later when Notre Dame’s Ryan Siedem capitalized after the Spartans had problems clearing the front of the net.
Notre Dame broke the tie at 2-1 with 7:56 to play when Drew Bavaro scored. A little more than three minutes later, Notre Dame’s Cole Knuble increased the lead to 3-1. The Irish scored an empty-netter with 1:09 remaining.
“Hard-fought game, kind of what we expected,” said Michigan State head coach Adam Nightingale. “I don’t think it’s a 4-1 game. I thought it was a pretty tight game and it could have went either way. But I thought overall they did a good job defending. We made it hard on them too. They come at you and go to the hard areas so you have to be able to defend your net front.
“Obviously a really good team. There is no easy ice out there. You have to be willing to pay a price to generate some offense. They did a good job of making it hard on us.”
WHAT IT MEANS
Michigan State (17-7-3 and 11-4-2 in the Big Ten) will now be hoping for a weekend split for a third straight week, when the Spartans and Irish (14-11-2 and 8-7-2) clash at 6 p.m. on Saturday in South Bend (Peacock).
The Spartans split with Minnesota and Michigan in the past two weekends.
Michigan State’s lead in the Big Ten standings stands at four points (37-33) due to second-place Wisconsin’s overtime loss to Minnesota on Friday.
Three points are allowed to the winning team, in regulation or the first overtime. Michigan State is assured of coming out of the weekend in first place in the Big Ten standings, but will look to collect a three-point win on Saturday.
Wisconsin has played two fewer games than the Spartans.
“We have to understand the critical moments in games and how important those are when you’re trying to win on the road,” Nightingale said. “Just being competitive at the puck. They did a great job and I thought our guys did too. It was like a playoff type game. We want it that way. You want it hard, you don’t want it easy. If you come into tomorrow’s game thinking there’s going to be easy offense, that’s not going to happen.”
GOALIE DUEL
Michigan State freshman Trey Augustine, the youngest starting goalie in the nation, and Notre Dame’s Ryan Bischel are arguably the two top goaltenders in the Big Ten. They played that way for most of this game, with the score tied at 0-0 deep into the second period.
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Both teams finished with 31 shots on goal.
“I thought he (Augustine) had a good game,” Nightingale said. “He was solid back there. There were stretches when he didn’t get a on of action and then all the sudden he had some big-time chances.
“Bishel payed really well. We finally get one on the power play and then we give one up right away. Those are moments when you want to continue to have momentum and obviously we lost it at that point.”
WHAT’S NEXT
Michigan State swept Notre Dame in a two-game series in East Lansing in early December. Michigan State was hoping for another sweep this weekend, but instead will be defending against a season split on Saturday.
“When you sweep a team earlier in the year, they want to come and get you back,” Howard said. “I thought it was a neck-and-neck game up until that third period. It was anyone’s game and they came out with the win.”
The plan for Saturday?
“Getting pucks through, low to high, getting pucks on net,” Howard said. “Obviously, they had a lot of blocks. We had a lot of blocks too. Just find lanes and find the sticks.”
Said Nightingale: “We’ve been a real consistent hockey team. Understanding who you’re playing against, a really quality opponent that makes it tough on you. Have some patience in the game.”
Notre Dame’s Trevor Janicke celebrates a goal scored by Irish teammate Drew Bavaro which gave the Irish a 2-1 lead with 7:56 remaining in the game, Friday in South Bend. (Photo courtesy @NDHockey)
