No. 1 Spartans Start New Year With Come-From-Behind Victory Over Wisconsin
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- No. 1 Michigan State hockey (16-2-1) was able to build on its success from the Great Lakes Invitational on Thursday, as it pulled off a 3-1 comeback to defeat Wisconsin (9-11-1), 4-3, in what was the Spartans' first home game in over a month.
Michigan State was once again led by sophomore goaltender Luca Di Pasquo, who, fresh off a stellartwo-game showing in the GLI, tied his career high of 30 saves in the victory.
The Spartans entered the final period facing a two-goal deficit, but it was the effort of junior forwards Charlie Stramel and Isaac Howard that willed the top team in the nation to its third-period comeback.
Stramel earned the First Star of the game, while Howard earned the Second. They each finished with 2 points.
Michigan State struck first with a goal from junior forward Tiernan Shoudy coming just over 5-and-a-half minutes into the contest. It marked his fourth of the season.
The Spartans held the 1-0 advantage for much of the first period before a goal from freshman forward Gavin Morrissey tied the contest less than 2 minutes before the first intermission.
The aggression from both sides was rather even through the first period, with Wisconsin just barely having the edge in shots-on-goal, 11 to 10.
After a penalty-less first period, disaster struck for the Spartans early in the second period as Michigan State was hit with back-to-back penalties in a matter of 2 minutes.
The first was an interference against sophomore defenseman Patrick Geary just 44 seconds in, which would eventually lead to a power-play goal from the Badgers, as sixth-year forward Owen Lindmark found the net to give Wisconsin a 2-1 lead.
Shortly after, Michigan State was called for its second penalty of the contest, this time for slashing against senior forward Red Savage. While the Spartans would survive that power play, Wisconsin managed to put one between the pipes less than a minute-and-a-half after the end of the Badgers advantage.
The goal came from sophomore forward Sawyer Scholl. With less than 5-and-a-half minutes gone in the middle period, Wisconsin had taken a two-goal lead.
Michigan State would get a power-play opportunity of its own a bit over 2 minutes later. Unfortunately for the Spartans, they were unable to take advantage.
Wisconsin held onto its two-goal cushion for roughly 5 more minutes before Michigan State was finally able to end its lengthy scoring drought.
With just over 5-and-a-half minutes to go until the second intermission, Spartan junior forward Karsen Dorwart broke the silence with his fifth goal of the season.
Michigan State would find itself back within a goal going into the third.
It didn't take long after the second intermission for the Spartans to make it a game again, as Howard, the Spartans' leading goal-scorer, added to his season total with the game-tying goal less than a minute into the third.
The two teams fought for that go-ahead goal for much of the final period, and Michigan State would even have another opportunity to score on a power play almost 9 minutes in. But again, the Spartans were unable to capitalize.
Finally, with a bit over 5 minutes to go in the contest, Howard would come up clutch once again, as he found Stramel for the one-timer, which gave Michigan State its first lead since the first period.
The Spartans held onto that lead the rest of the way and were able to stop the visitors one last time when they were granted a late power play in the final half-minute of the contest.
Michigan State extends its home record to 8-1-0 and will look to best Wisconsin once again when the two teams face off in The Frozen Confines at Wrigley Field in Chicago on Saturday night.
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