No. 8 Michigan State completes sweep in rare fashion, 7-3, at Penn State; Levshunov nets goal, three assists

Michigan State followed up a terrific performance on Friday night with more explosives on Saturday, beating No. 20-ranked Penn State, 7-3, completing a sweep at Pegula Ice Arena in State College, Pa.

It was the Spartans’ fourth Big Ten weekend sweep of the season, in six tries.

It was Michigan State’s first sweep of Penn State since 2015, and the Spartans’ first sweep at Penn State, ever. 

No. 8-ranked Michigan State improved to 15-4-3 overall and 9-1-2 in the Big Ten, taking the lead in the conference standings with 31 points, nudging ahead of Wisconsin.

“We’re proud of the guys,” said Michigan State head coach Adam Nightingale. “That was a really good effort against a really good program. The way yesterday went, we needed to be ready to go right off the bat. Obviously we went down 1-0, but to stick with it and get the job done, I’m proud of the guys. They scored first on the power play and there was no panic and I thought we controlled large parts of the game.”

Another sweep for @MSU_Hockey! 🧹

Here are all 7️⃣ of the Spartan’s goals scored in their 7-3 win against Penn State. 😳 pic.twitter.com/Bgdg3fWOBI

— Big Ten Hockey (@B1GHockey) January 13, 2024

WHAT’S NEXT

Michigan State will play a home-and-home series against Michigan (12-3-5) next weekend. The Spartans will play host to No. 15. Michigan at 7 p.m. on Friday, and travel to Ann Arbor for the second game at 7 p.m. on Saturday. 

Nightingale was asked if he mentioned the upcoming rivalry series to his players in the locker room after Saturday’s game.  

“No,” he said. “I mean our guys know.”

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

Seven different players scored for the Spartans: Karsen Dorwart (his 9th of the season), Joey Larson (14), Red Savage (9), Artyom Levshunov (6), Gavin O’Connell (10), Reed Lebster (5) and Nash Nienhuis (7).

“At the end of the day, we think our depth is a strength,” Nightingale said. “The more we can play five-on-five, it’s to our advantage.”

The three stars selections were defenseman Artyom Levshunov, defenseman Patrick Geary and winter Gavin O’Connell – all freshmen, and all Spartans.

Levshunov had three assists on the night. The freshman defenseman is tied with Larson for points with 25 on the year. 

THE HOT LINE

The O’Connell-Savage-Larson line combined for 10 points on the weekend for Michigan State and had a combined three goals and two assists on Saturday. 

“We’re having a blast right now,” said Savage (5-11, Jr., Scottsdale, Ariz.). “Everyone’s just clicking. Every shift, it’s a ton of fun right now.”

“Huge to get six big points,” said O’Connell (6-0, Fr., Plymouth, Minn.). “We’re super thrilled.”

RARE FEAT

Friday night marked only the sixth time in five seasons that Penn State was out-shot at home. Penn State is known for putting lots of rubber on goal, whether they are good scoring chances or not, they fired it toward the net and ask questions later. Out-shooting Penn State, considering the Nittany Lions’ style of play, is rare.

Michigan State outshot Penn State again on Saturday (34-30).

It marked the first time since 2019 that a visiting team outshot Penn State twice in one weekend in Happy Valley, when Ohio State did it.

SPECIAL TEAMS TURNING POINT

Michigan State led 3-1 but faced a 5-on-3 penalty kill during intermission after the first period.

But the Spartans killed the penalty with little problem, and soon increased the lead to 5-1 on goals by Levshunov and O’Connell.

“Special teams were great this weekend,” Nightingale said, “especially that 5-on-3, to dig in, especially when they get a little bit of a breather to come out of the intermission gives them a little time to maybe dial something up. Special teams were good. We found a way to execute this weekend.”

GOOD PROBLEM

Michigan State led 6-2 after two periods, creating a unique task for Nightingale, something he might need to get accustomed to as his career progresses.

“One of the hardest things in sports is to not play the scoreboard and stay disciplined and trying to play our game and play our way,” Nightingale said, when asked about the challenge of coaching during a big lead. “A lot of times it’s human nature, you try to extend shifts or try to get a little cute instead of sticking with our identify. I think Nico Müller’s line did a really good job of being a good example and doing it the right way and the rest of the guys followed suit.”

QUOTEBOOK

“I think we got to our game, trying to play behind their defense,” Nightingale said. “They do a good job making it hard through the neutral zone, so committing to playing behind them and then being competitive at the puck. They are a real competitive team and if you go into puck battles light on your stick, you’re not going to come up with many.”