For every goal the Spartans scored, it looked like the Irish had an answer \u2014 until they didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
Rocking \u201980s throwback jerseys, No. 1 Michigan State hockey hosted Notre Dame coming out of a bye week. Several penalties on both sides led to two power-play goals for the Spartans en route to a 4\u20132 victory.<\/p>\n
But the game wasn\u2019t one-sided. The Irish promptly tied the Spartans after each goal they scored, leaving little margin for error. MSU was also outshot 39\u201331. Backed by junior goaltender Trey Augustine, who stopped a season-high 37 shots, the Spartans\u2019 defense improved throughout the night to secure the tight contest.<\/p>\n
\u201cI give Notre Dame credit. I thought they were the better team,\u201d MSU coach Adam Nightingale said. \u201cI thought our power play did a good job, executed when needed to. The last half of the third we did a good job making them defend, and didn’t give them much back half that period.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the win, the Spartans improved to 14-5-0 in the Big Ten (23-6-0 overall) with 42 points. MSU trails No. 2 Michigan by one point in the conference standings after its bye week. The Spartans will face the Irish again on Friday, Feb. 20, at 6 p.m. on Big Ten Network.<\/p>\n
MSU will need to be sharper in the series finale against Notre Dame, although the close contest is valuable for building trust and continuing to improve as the playoffs quickly approach.<\/p>\n
\u201cDown the stretch every team is going to play us tight,\u201d junior forward Gavin O\u2019Connell said. \u201cFor us to be in those heavy games, one goal games, tight games, we learn a lot. We just got to lean on each other in the process and Spartan hockey. And ultimately, if we believe in that and we play our way, hopefully it goes our way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Junior defenseman Maxim \u0160trb\u00e1k gave the Spartans a 1-0 lead from the slot in the third minute, but the lead was short lived. Notre Dame forward Dashel Oliver snuck a puck past Augustine\u2019s right shoulder to even the score at 1-1 just two minutes later, for his first career collegiate goal. It was the first and only time Notre Dame scored on MSU without a man-advantage this season.<\/p>\n
The game remained tied entering the first intermission, despite an Irish power play and multiple man advantages for the Spartans. Notre Dame goaltender Nicholas Kempf and Augustine kept their teams in the game, though Augustine faced more action, stopping shots amid the Irish\u2019s 15\u20139 advantage in the opening period.<\/p>\n
MSU capitalized on a power play just two minutes into the second period to regain the lead. Senior center Charlie Stramel buried a goal from the slot for his 19th of the season. He was assisted by linemates senior forward Daniel Russell and freshman forward Porter Martone, extending the line\u2019s point streak to six games.<\/p>\n
Just as the Spartans did, the Irish converted on the power play, though it required an official review. After a hooking penalty on MSU, forward Cole Knuble fired a hard shot that appeared to hit the post from near the goal line, and the puck bounced out as play continued. After a stoppage, the Irish challenged the initial call, and the referees ruled Knuble\u2019s shot a goal, tying the game at 2\u20132.<\/p>\n
Nearly halfway through the second period, the Spartans thought they had taken the lead after O\u2019Connell poked at a loose puck and buried the rebound \u2014 but the whistle had been blown before his shot when the goaltender\u2019s helmet came loose.<\/p>\n
Kempf held strong for the Irish until he exited the game with an injury. Senior center Tiernan Shoudy was pushed into Kempf while battling for position at the net, and Kempf remained down on the ice. He was later replaced by backup goaltender Luke Pearson.<\/p>\n
Although Pearson stopped the initial shots he faced, O\u2019Connell eventually broke through.<\/p>\n
With two seconds left on a Spartan power play, O\u2019Connell ripped a shot past Pearson\u2019s left side for a 3\u20132 Spartan lead \u2014 his fifth goal of the season, scored on his 22nd birthday.<\/p>\n
\u201cGood play by Lindy (freshman forward Cayden Lindstrom),\u201d O\u2019Connell said. \u201cThe power play was good, pretty much all night. He had an unreal play. It was kind of like a broken entry, and he saw me, made a good look, and then I was fortunate enough to just beat the goalie.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the Irish generated scoring chances throughout the second, the Spartans pushed back.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Freshman forward Ryker Lee hustled back to challenge Knuble on a shorthanded breakaway, and Martone made a similar effort later in the period, diving to the ice to disrupt an Irish scoring chance. Augustine remained steadfast, allowing only the one power-play goal and stopping dangerous shots throughout the night with strong defensive support.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe (Augustine) made some big time saves for us, and I thought we did a good job on some of those second effort plays in front of the net,\u201d Nightingale said. \u201cWe weren’t the better team and we asked a lot of him tonight, and we just can’t make a habit of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the Spartans led entering the third, Notre Dame dominated the start. The Irish led the shot count 10-1 after seven minutes of play. When the Spartans started to generate offense Pearson stopped shots, or there were missed passes \u2014 until the Irish wore down.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\u201cThat last 10 minutes, I thought we got on the forecheck and hung on to some pucks,\u201d Nightingale said. \u201cWhen you’re playing a talented team that has skill, they’re very good off the rush. You got to hang on to the puck\u2026 we did a better job of that. And obviously we got to try to do that again tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the third period progressed, the Spartans\u2019 defense tightened, generating more offensive opportunities. With 2:36 remaining, Notre Dame called a timeout, followed by an MSU timeout after the players returned to the ice. According to Nightingale, the timeout was used to sub in Stramel at the right faceoff circle, along with his linemates.<\/p>\n
The Irish pulled their goaltender and generated some shots, but Augustine was solid. The defense paved the way for two empty-net shots by Martone, and he scored on the second.<\/p>\n
Martone delivered a hard check in the neutral zone and skated past an Irish defender on his shoulder before scoring an empty-net goal, giving the Spartans a 4\u20132 insurance lead with 1:19 remaining. The Spartans\u2019 defense then held firm to secure the win.<\/p>\n
With the empty-net goal, Martone now has 17 goals on the season, moving him into the top 10 for goals scored by a freshman at MSU, tied with three other Spartans. He is also just one point shy of recording the 10th-most points by a Spartan freshman.<\/p>\n
\n Discussion\n <\/p>\n
Share and discuss \u201cNo. 1 MSU hockey edges Notre Dame in tight, hard-fought win\u201d on social media.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For every goal the Spartans scored, it looked like the Irish had an answer \u2014 until they didn\u2019t.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":464249,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[377],"tags":[5],"class_list":{"0":"post-464248","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-hockey","8":"tag-hockey"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116101302576630221","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=464248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464248\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/464249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=464248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=464248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=464248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}