FINAL: Michigan State hockey scores seven goals to tie series with No. 6 Penn State

After falling 4-3 to No. 6 Penn State in the final minute of Friday night’s game, Michigan State hockey rebounded with a landslide 7-3 win on Saturday, splitting the series with the Nittany Lions.

MSU came out of the gate looking like the best team in hockey, leading 3-0 less than ten minutes into the first period, but the three-goal advantage quickly slipped through the Spartans’ fingers as Penn State scored three of his own in the final half of the first period.

After their sloppy performance at the end of the first, MSU rallied during intermission and returned to the ice looking more put together. The Spartans had four more goals on the board, while PSU didn’t find the back of the net for the rest of the night.

Freshman defenseman Matt Basgall put the Spartans first with his second goal this weekend. He was helped on the play by his freshman teammates, freshman forward Tiernan Shoudy and sophomore forward Tanner Kelly.

Junior forward Jeremy Davidson scored an unassisted goal, his first of the season, to put MSU up 2-0 5:51 into the game.

At 8:43, sophomore forward Jesse Tucker found the back of the net with a shot from the left side of the ice to give MSU a 3-0 lead.

Penn State finally got on the board with a goal from Christian Sarlo at 16:33 of the first period.

The Spartans quickly fell apart when senior striker Jagger Joshua was whistled for interference after hitting a PSU player hard on the ice. It was ruled a major misconduct and Joshua was ejected from the game, sending Penn State into a five-minute power play.

The Nittany Lions were able to capitalize on the man advantage as Tyler Gratton secured former graduate transfer goaltender Dylan St. Cyr at 18:76, allowing PSU to follow by one.

Less than a minute later, PSU’s Kevin Wall scored his own goal to level the game before both teams headed to the locker room.

MSU managed to prevent more PSU goals on the power play and was back at full strength shortly after the start of the second.

Both teams were losing a skater less than eight minutes into the second after freshman forward Karsen Dorwart and PSU’s Christian Berger were both sent to their respective penalty boxes for two minutes on different calls.

Neither MSU nor PSU could capitalize on the four-on-four game and both teams came back strong at 9:44.

Shortly after coming out of the penalty box, Dorwart scored his third goal of the season on assists from Shoudy and graduate defenseman Michael Underwood to put Michigan State back on top.

Fifth-year defenseman Cole Krygier added to MSU’s lead less than three minutes later with his first goal of the game and his second of the series, bringing his season tally to four.

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With less than two minutes left in the second, freshman forward Daniel Russell, MSU’s leading scorer, added his fifth goal of the season to the board to give the Spartans a 6-3 lead going into the second. intermission.

Michigan State’s defense shone in the third period as St. Cyr recorded eight saves to bring its total for the night to 30. St. Cyr and MSU skaters did not allow a single PSU goal in either period remaining.

With less than five minutes to play, Dorwart put the final nail in Penn State’s coffin with an unassisted empty net, earning his first career two-goal night. He and Shoudy both finished with four points.

The Spartans shared the series with the Nittany Lions, leaving State College 9-4-1 overall and 5-2-1 in the Big Ten.

MSU will take a break from conference play as it travels to Ohio next weekend for a series against Miami (OH) Friday at 7 p.m. and Saturday at 5 p.m.

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Catherine J. Martinez