No. 8 Michigan State, Trey Augustine bounce back with 4-0 victory at Notre Dame; extend lead in Big Ten standings

Michigan State’s hockey players and coaches have talked about the changing nature of their season, and the fact that the Spartans are a Top 10 team, in first place of the Big Ten standings, and the impact that has on opponents.

They’ve talked about adjusting to the fact that the Spartans are now the hunted. 

But talk can only do so much.

Now, they are starting to experience the difference.

“We’re going to get everybody’s best,” Michigan State first-line center Karsen Dorwart said after the Spartans’ 4-0 victory over Notre Dame on Saturday. “We saw that (Friday) night and we didn’t bring our best. Today we had a good bounce back.”

Freshman goalie Trey Augustine recorded the shutout while the Spartans outshot Notre Dame 42-30. MSU turned in a dominant performance in the second period and cruised to victory, 24 hours after losing 4-1 to the Irish on Friday night.

“We went over a lot this morning,” said Dorwart, a sophomore from Sherwood, Ore. “We knew we could be a lot better. Last night obviously wasn’t our best. I thought we did that right from the jump. Especially our second period, we really kind of buried them there. You could tell they were tired so we did a good job of that.

“We knew what we had to do better today. When we came out in the second there, we were flying. I thought we did a good job of playing a full 60.”

Michigan State wasn’t bad on Friday. But the Spartans wanted to leave no doubt on Saturday.

“I thought that was a real even hockey game on Friday,” said Michigan State head coach Adam Nightingale. “I know you can look at the score. But when you look at scoring chances and quality chances and all of those things, it was a tight hockey game. And I think our guys need to learn you’re playing a team that’s never going to give you anything. You have to earn everything. That’s a great experience for our guys. When you talk about the second half of the season, that’s how hockey is. I think our guys dug in and earned what they got.”

THE BIG PICTURE

No. 8-ranked Michigan State improved to 18-7-3 overall and 12-4-2 in the Big Ten. The Spartans increased their lead over second place Wisconsin in the Big Ten standings by gaining three points via Saturday’s victory over Notre Dame. Wisconsin tied Minnesota, 1-1, after two overtimes on Saturday night. The Badgers won the post-overtime shootout to capture two points in the Big Ten standings while Minnesota settled for one point. But both teams lost ground on Michigan State.

Michigan State has 40 points, atop the Big Ten standings. Wisconsin is in second place with 35 points, plus two games at hand on the Spartans. Wisconsin will pull even with Michigan State in games played during the weekend of Feb. 17-18 when the Spartans are idle and Wisconsin plays at Ohio State. 

Michigan State is chasing its first Big Ten hockey regular season championship. The Spartans play at Michigan next Friday (7 p.m., Big Ten Plus) and then play the Wolverines again on Saturday (8:30 p.m., BTN) at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.

Michigan State split with Michigan two weekends ago. Michigan, ranked No. 11 in the Pairwise Rankings, is 14-9-3 overall.

Michigan State’s last regular season home games will be Feb. 23-24 against Ohio State. 

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

Michigan State freshman goalie Trey Augustine (6-1, 179, South Lyon, Mich.) made 30 saves in recording the shutout. It was his third shutout of the season.

“Getting a shutout is a pretty cool feeling,” he said. “Obviously the guys did a good job in front of them so a lot of credit goes to them.

“A little confidence, but nothing too crazy. It’s just game-by-game, ready for next weekend against Michigan.”

Dorwart, Jeremy Davidson, Artyom Levshunov and Red Savage scored for the Spartans.

Matt Basgall and Joey Larson each had two assists.

It was Dorwart’s 11th goal of the season, which is tied for second most on the team.

Levshunov ranks second on the team with 27 points (eight goals and 19 assists), and his +24 is best on the team. 

Michigan State killed off six Notre Dame power plays. The Michigan State penalty kill was perfect in eight opportunities for the weekend. 

“We struggled winning some draws so we ended up in our zone a little bit, and Trey made some saves,” Nightingale said.

Starts with the stretch pass by Basgall, set up by Lebster, and the wraparound backhander by Davidson. That's a 2-0 MSU lead here in the second. pic.twitter.com/yDvrjGvIRr

— Michigan State Hockey (@MSU_Hockey) February 4, 2024

‘WE PLAYED TEAM HOCKEY’

Nightingale was satisfied with the effort.

“We were on top of them,” Nightingale said. “We weren’t trying to be cute. We were paying the price. We were at the net. I just thought we were able to get some o-zone changes. We played team hockey. 

“And it was good to stay with it, too, because it wasn’t going in for us. It was 1-0 for a while there. The guys didn’t deviate from that. I think that’s important for them to remember is even when it’s not going in, doing it the right way doesn’t guarantee you’re going to get rewarded, but if you don’t do it you’re not going to get those chances.

“(Ryan) Bischel is a really good goalie. You’ve got to test him and I thought we put some good pressure on him.”

Augustine leads the league with a 2.75 goals against average. His save percentage is .921.

“I mean he was really good,” Nightingale said. “We had some sequences there where they came down on rush chances. We were pressing the o-zone and they came down. Trey was great on the penalty kill; he made some great saves there. 

“Trey is not a stat guy. He just wants to get the win. But it’s good to see him get rewarded.”

Michigan State goaltender Trey Augustine makes one of his 30 saves during his 4-0 shutout of Notre Dame, Saturday in South Bend. (Photo by John Mersits | USA Today Network).