No. 5 Michigan State gave as good as it got in another weekend split, but 'We have to be smarter'

East Lansing, Mich. – Much of the college hockey world was intrigued to find out how this year’s upstart Michigan State hockey team would fare in its four games over the past two weekends against the stacked rosters of Michigan and Minnesota, with the Spartans taking on those perennial powers while leading everyone in the Big Ten standings.

Michigan State’s results – a pair of weekend splits – were respectable for those viewing from the outside, but not completely satisfying for those inside the Spartan program.

Michigan State, which came into Saturday’s game ranked No. 5 in the Pairwise Rankings, finished the weekend split with a 5-1 loss to No. 9 Minnesota before a sellout crowd of 6,555 at Munn Ice Arena.

This came after the Spartans’ thrilling, 3-2, come-from-behind victory over the Gophers on Friday. Michigan State split two games with Michigan last weekend.

“It was a tough finish to the weekend for us,” said Michigan State head coach Adam Nightingale. “A pretty similar game to yesterday. There wasn’t a ton of easy ice. We got ourselves down. I liked what we did in getting caught up in the score. I thought the game was a pretty even game. We’re talking about a (Minnesota) team that we have a ton of respect for. They played in the National Championship Game last year and they have a lot of veteran guys. They did a great job closing it out.

“I thought we had some looks there, but they made it hard on us and committed to defending and that’s what good teams do. So it’s another opportunity to grow and we look forward to practice this week.”

HOW IT WENT DOWN

Minnesota took a 2-0 lead in the first period, and extended it to 3-0 early in the second period, despite the Spartans holding a 15-12 edge in shots on goal at the time.

Minnesota scored its first three goals on transition plays stemming from quick, subtle wins in the neutral zone. The Gophers didn’t score via sustained pressure, but when they had quick transitional opportunities, they had the skill to finish.

Michigan State cut the lead to 3-1 at 11:05 of the second period when defenseman Matt Basgall (5-10, 190, Soph., Lake Forest, Ill.) scored with a wrist shot from the top of the 1-3-1 on the power play. Karsen Dorwart and Daniel Russell assisted. 

Michigan State carried the play for the final final 10 minutes of the first period and most of the second period, and seemed on the cusp of pulling to within 3-2. But Minnesota began turning things around late in the second period, and that led to a dominant third period for the Gophers. 

THE BIG PICTURE

Michigan State fell to 17-6-3 overall and 11-3-2 in the Big Ten.

The Spartans will play two games at Notre Dame next weekend, following by two games against Michigan the following weekend, in Ann Arbor on Feb. 9 and at Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena on Feb. 10. 

Michigan State has only two regular season home games remaining, against Ohio State on Feb. 23-24. Michigan State will then play host to at least one game in the Big Ten Tournament.

Minnesota improved to 15-7-4 overall and 8-5-3-1 in the Big Ten.

The Spartans remains in first place in the Big Ten standings with 37 points, five ahead of Wisconsin. Wisconsin has played two fewer games than Michigan State. 

WHAT WE LEARNED

Michigan State has vastly increased the talent of its roster in the past 12 months. The Spartans play a skillful, speedy style of play. But could they hang with the Gophers and Wolverines, who still have many more NHL Draft picks than the Spartans? 

The answer was yes. To an extent. But there were also clear lessons that responsibility and attention to detail – the same things you’ve heard Tom Izzo and Mark Dantonio talk about over the years – apply to this sport as well, and the Spartans are still working to tighten screws in that area. 

“We have to be smarter,” Nightingale said, when asked about the three Minnesota goals which stemmed from loose puck situations and decisions in the neutral zone. “We want to pressure the puck. We want to be on top of teams but you can’t be charging up the ice. There’s a balance there. When you give skillful players time and space, they are going to make you pay. When you back off, they’re going to make you pay. There are some different reads we can grow from, especially on our back end, of those moments when it’s a little more of a risk-reward.”

Nightingale isn’t a guy who gets caught up in the final score of a game. That will change at tournament time, of course. But in the meantime, it’s about chasing a standard of play – and working to remain atop the standings if possible.

“We’ve played games this year that we won and we’ve told our guys that (game performance) wasn’t to our standard,” he said. “And we’ve played some games where we have lost and we were pretty close to our standard. I think just keeping that mindset.”

SpartanMag asked if he felt Michigan State played to the proper standard on Saturday, despite the loss.

“I thought there were phases of the game when we were for sure,” he said. “We got away from our game. Where I thought we didn’t was when it got to 4-1 and we started to get a little bit whacky and running around, and you’re just giving up an opportunity to get better at what we want to work at. That’s human nature and I think we all fight that. But no we didn’t play to our standard.”

WHAT NIGHTINGALE LEARNED

“I’ve loved our responses,” Nightingale said. “The game here a week ago (against Michigan), we learned a lesson. It got away from us and we got undisciplined and it cost us. We went on the road and got behind and learned that we can still do it. Friday night (against Minnesota), we learned that we can still do it. You don’t want to draw it up that way (coming from behind). You have to find a way to win games different ways and I think this group has shown that.”

WHAT’S NEXT: BEING THE HUNTED

Michigan State has had a giddy rise to the top of the Big Ten standings. Now, in latter stages of the conference season, there is a feeling that the Spartans will face a different kind of challenge, and they are looking forward to it.

“I think for our group this is really critical for our growth as a program, just handling being the team that’s first,” Nightingale said. “A lot of these guys haven’t gone through that and you’re seeing teams’ best. We’ve earned that. With that comes pressure and I think pressure is an earned thing and a privilege. Embrace it. I felt in a lot of ways in the last couple of weeks the guys did a great job.”

Basgall says Michigan State became the hunted weeks ago. 

“I don’t think we’ve surprised any teams in a long time,” Basgall said. “We’ve been in the Top 10 basically all year.

“When we are on our game, it’s really hard to beat us. I think teams have a lot of trouble playing with our speed. We have great conditioning, thanks to our strength coach and the way we practice. We are able to wear down teams as the games go on and we have to continue with that and stay on our forecheck. We have been a little bit off in terms of wearing teams down. I think we can a little bit more in that sense. In the third period yesterday, we out-worked them because of our conditioning. I think we could do that a little bit more coming down the stretch.”

WHERE MICHIGAN STATE COULDN’T CRACK MINNESOTA

Five of the Gophers’ six defensemen are NHL Draft picks. They’re young, but they were polished on Saturday. 

“You can tell they’re on the same page,” Nightingale said. “They all can skate and that can make it hard to forecheck them and extend plays in the offensive zone. I think they play within themselves, too. You saw that in the third period; they were content to make it hard for us to gain the zone and then going back and breaking out pucks. I see a lot of young talent back there that has improved.”

Said Basgall: “I think they did a great job in the neutral zone. When we were trying to push the pace and get out, their defensemen were great with the gaps and their forwards were tracking really hard and making it really hard to make rush plays. We were able to do that a little bit more in the third period yesterday. They played very well and shut it down well today.”

Michigan State defenseman Artyom Levshunov and Minnesota captain Jaxon Nelson battle in front of the Spartan goal during Minnesota’s 5-1 victory at Michigan State on Saturday. (Photo courtesy @GopherHockey)