No. 7 Michigan State stages wild comeback, stuns Michigan, 7-5

A brewing low point of the season for the Michigan State hockey team turned in an instant and blossomed into one of the most satisfying, encouraging moments of the year as the Spartans raced back from a 4-1 deficit to stun Michigan 7-5, Saturday at Yost Ice Arena in Ann Arbor.

With Michigan State having lost 7-1 to Michigan on Friday, and being outscored 11-2 for the weekend through half of this game on Saturday, and being out-shot 30-9 in this game, the Spartans turned the momentum, the game and perhaps safeguarded the narrative of the season with six straight goals from the 10:53 mark of the second period to an empty netter by Joey Larson at 16:42 of the third period to take a 7-4 lead. 

Michigan’s Dylan Duke scored with 2:03 to go to cut it to 7-5, but the Spartans held on for an emotional victory in the oldest, most heated rivalry in college hockey. 

It could be remembered as one of the wildest and perhaps most momentous January hockey games in Michigan State hockey history, depending on what the Spartans do with their season from this point forward.

“Being down 4-1, being outshot 30-9, it was really tough, but it shows even more that we came back,” said senior center and alternate captain Nicolas Müller, who scored two goals and had two assists for the Spartans. “It was tough last night. They beat us pretty good. Our team showed a lot of character today. It feels awesome.”

It was Michigan State’s first win in Ann Arbor since 2019.

“It would have been real easy to fold, the way it started for us,” said Michigan State head coach Adam Nightingale. “It was a little bit of a hangover from the night before. Just staying with it.”

WHAT CHANGED?

Michigan State seemed to discover as this game progressed that the Spartans could skate with Michigan, match skill with the Wolverines and win in the tight areas. They might have assumed they could do those things heading into the weekend, but the blowout loss on Friday and the early deficit on Saturday might have shaken that confidence. But it didn’t stay that way.

“We started to play with a little more poise,” Nightingale said. “We whacked it around. You’ve got to want the puck. I get it, yesterday was a really hard day for us. But you have to have confidence. I think we have a pretty good hockey team. So you have to believe in yourself. I think the more we started hanging onto pucks, we were able to play in the offensive zone a little more and find the back of the net.”

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

Müller (2), Artyon Levshunov, Isaac Howard, Gavin O’Connell, Jeremy Davidson and Larson scored for Michigan State. 

Michigan State goalie Trey Augustine allowed five goals, but faced 48 shots and turned in some terrific saves. Michigan State was outshot 19-7 in the first period, but the Spartans survived with a 1-1 score at the first intermission, thanks to Augustine’s acrobatics. He had to make two huge saves in the first :30 seconds of the game, and remained a plus throughout.

“He played great,” Nightingale said. “Playing a skillful team that can put you in tough spots, I thought we got running around a little bit and Trey just has that poise. Even when he got scored on, he doesn’t blink. It’s about stopping the next puck and he had a heck of a game.”

One of Augustine’s biggest saves came with 9:37 left, and Michigan State leading 6-4, when Augustine made a short-side save on Seamus Casey, and then went post-to-post to stop Kienan Draper on a rebound on the other side, preserving the lead at a huge moment.

THE BIG PICTURE

Michigan State, ranked No. 7 in the USCHO rankings and PairWise rankings, improved to 16-5-3 overall and 10-2-2 in the Big Ten.  

No. 15 Michigan fell to 11-8-3 overall and 4-6-2 in the Big Ten.

Michigan State leads the Big Ten with 34 points, four ahead of Wisconsin (30), which has played two fewer games than the Spartans. Michigan State is aiming for its first Big Ten hockey championship in the 10-year history of Big Ten hockey.

No. 10-ranked Minnesota (13-6-4 overall and 6-4-3 in the Big Ten) will play at Michigan State next weekend. 

PEP TALK 1: IZZO

Michigan State basketball coach Tom Izzo is often there for members of the athletic department when they hit a low point. Izzo reached out to Nightingale on Saturday.

“I actually had a really good conversation with Coach Izzo,” Nightingale said. “He’s been great. You don’t get as many texts when the game goes that way. 

“He talked about when he took over, and the rivalry, and finding that balance between respect and not liking them. I think I need to do a better job of that. 

“I talk about it, but I have a ton of respect for their program, and I thought Friday night when you take penalties I don’t think it’s respecting your opponent because you are not respecting the danger on the power play. We have to make sure we maintain that as a team.”

That bled into a talk Nightingale had with the Spartans at Munn Ice Arena on Saturday morning before they left for Ann Arbor.

“We had a tough meeting this morning, in the areas we kind of try to pride ourselves in on playing winning hockey,” he said. “That’s my responsibility and we didn’t play that on Friday. Let’s get back to it.”

PEP TALK 2: NIGHTINGALE

When trailing 4-1, Nightingale spoke with confidence during a TV time out, midway through the second period.

“Just remind them of what we talked about, it’s never about the score,” Nightingale said. “We want to keep getting better and get to our game. We have to play team hockey. Don’t worry about the score, I know it’s hard and you have to fight it but keep doing it the right way.

“We have played a lot of really good hockey this year and we should have a lot of confidence as a team. We’re not a perfect team but I think we have a lot of guys that believe in how we want to do things. So it’s just sticking with it one shift at a time.”

TURNING POINT

Twenty-four hours earlier, team captain Nash Nienhuis admitted after the 7-1 loss that there are times in a hockey game when a team trailing by a big margin can “check out.” He said that was something the Spartans needed to learn from, and they certainly seemed to. 

Trailing 4-1, Michigan State turned it around with a series of gritty plays while Michigan seemingly lapsed in its intensity, resulting in Howard cutting the lead to 4-2 at 10:53 of the second period. 

The play began when Karsen Dorwart (6-1, Soph., Sherwood, Ore.) and Levshunov won a battle along the boards deep in the Spartan zone, and Howard pressured a Wolverine defender at the point, taking away time and space, and forcing an errant D to D pass at the blue line to Michigan defenseman Jacob Truscott. 

Daniel Russell (5-9, Soph., Traverse City) was there to out-hustle Truscott and poke the puck forward to Howard, who raced into the Michigan zone and snapped a wrister past Michigan goalie Jake Barczewski.

For the rest of the second period, Michigan State suddenly became the team out-quicking the opponent to loose pucks, winning 50-50 battles, and maintaining zone pressure.

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED

Less than two minutes later, Davidson pressured Michigan defenseman Tyler Duke on the forecheck, forced a turnover and fed Müller racing to the front of the net for a one-timer, a 4-3 game and suddenly manageable situation.

Less than three minutes later, with Michigan State riding all of the momentum, winger Gavin O’Connell (6-0, Fr., Plymouth, Minn.) tied the game with a backhand rebound off a Levshunov shot.

Two minutes later, with 2:09 left in the second period, Davidson gave Michigan State a 5-4 lead. The set-up was amazing.

Müller won a faceoff outside the Michigan zone, Davidson controlled it back to Müller.

Müller broke into the Michigan zone and slid the puck between the skates and legs of Michigan defenseman Jacob Truscott, nutmeg style, and broke into the slot, where he fed it back to Davidson.

Davidson (5-10, Sr., Kalamazoo) sniped it past Barczewski to give Michigan State the lead in an unthinkable turnaround. 

Michigan State continued the onslaught with 11:23 left in the game when Müller (6-0, Sr., Arisdorf, Switzerland) backhanded a shot past Barczewski after Duke lost an edge, slipped and fell in his own zone, turning it over. 

Müller celebrated by kissing the front of his Michigan State hockey script jersey as he was mobbed by teammates. 

“He was huge,” Nightingale said of Müller. “He made some big-time plays. His assist on Davidson’s goal, that effort, and to finish the last one off was big-time for us. Nico is a low-maintenance guy and thankfully decided to come back for his fifth year.”

BACK TO SPARTAN HOCKEY

Michigan State played a skilled, hustling, team-oriented brand of hockey in the last 30 minutes of this game that was more akin to the way the Spartans had played prior to Friday’s nightmare.

“Super proud of our guys,” Nightingale said. “I mean you look at how it went for us yesterday and how it started here and to be down 4-1 and to come back like we did, sometimes what happens when it doesn’t go you way is you’re a little shellshocked, human nature, and it takes you a little time, and we’ve got to find a way to limit the time it takes to get back to our game. But I thought as the game went on, we did a lot of good things.”

Michigan State was victimized by stretch passes which led to five breakaways on Friday. On Saturday, Michigan State gave up only one.

“I thought our D were smarter,” Nightingale said. “We’re still trying to grow in that area. Obviously we want our defense to be involved in the offense but you can’t get caught chasing offense. So finding that balance, I thought we did a better job of that tonight.”

POISE TO THE FINISH

Michigan State spent a lot of emotion in taking a 5-4 lead into the intermission prior to the third period. There was no let-up after that, no penalties, no mental errors.

“Just made sure we were playing disciplined and playing winning hockey,” said Nightingale, who . “We talk about it every single day and that’s our job to teach our guys that. We’re still not there 100 percent but we’re getting closer. We just want winning habits and I thought we did that in the third. 

“I thought we did a way better job of using your emotion and channeling your emotion for the right things. The game is played between the whistles and focus on your next shift. The way we want to play takes a ton of energy and if you lose focus, it can get away from you. We need to focus on us and keep growing our game.

“We’re excited about the direction of our team. We have played a lot of good hockey but still a lot of room to grow.”