Michigan State hockey splits series with Penn State on the road

Happy New Year, Michigan State hockey fans.

Over the weekend, the No. 1 ranked Spartans (18-2-2) flew to Happy Valley to take on the Penn State Nittany Lions (8-10-2). In a very tight series the Spartans were able to split the series with a win in Game 1 and a tie in Game 2. Unfortunately, the second game ended in a shootout loss. While not an ideal finish in the second game, there are still a lot of great things to look back at from this past weekend.

Game 1 overview

In a game that started off very slow for the Spartans, it heated up quickly. After going down 2-0 to the Nittany Lions with about five minutes remaining in the first period, Isaac Howard opened scoring for the Spartans. From this point on, the story of this game revolved around Howard. He was able to add five points to his score sheet, including four goals. Isaac came just shy of tying a school record for goals in a single game.

The best of the night came arguably on his fourth goal. This was on the powerplay with about two minutes remaining in the game. Howard was playing on the bumper and was able to rip a shot off from the top of the slot. The goalie had no chance to make the save and the game was over. Howard has had points where he has been streaky with his scoring over the season. Overall though, he is putting together a great campaign and will be looked at if he wins the Hobey later this season.

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Other things of note from this game include goaltender Luca Di Pasquo getting his fifth straight start and win. Overall, Di Pasquo has a 7-0 record in all of his starts. On Friday night Luca stopped 29 shots en route to a 6-4 win. While it wasn’t the best game that he has had this season, Luca did exactly what he needed to do to hold on. He has been a revelation over the past few games with Augustine gone for the World Juniors. It is easy to say that MSU will be just fine next season with Luca in net.

One other note from this game needs to be the powerplay that resulted in Matt Basgall getting his third goal of the season. Basgall was playing the powerplay quarterback with the top powerplay unit. After keeping play  in the zone through a few cycles he got a few shots off from the blue line and one eventually squeaked in for the goal. Though he was moved back down the lineup with Maxim Strbak, Basgall remains an effective defenseman for this team. He could also be considered a “glue” guy. He pushes the play forward and does a number of small things that allows guys like Howard, Stramel, and Russell to do what they do. All of this came together for a great win against the Nittany Lions.

Game 2 overview

The Saturday game was a much more closely contested game. The final result did not go exactly as Michigan State hockey would have liked, losing in a shootout, but it happens. The team did not have a bad game, it just seemed that the game was more of a reset. The game was the first one back for Trey Augustine following his gold medal at the World Juniors. It looked like it was his first game back unfortunately. That is not to say that he played poorly. Trey was able to still stop 32 shots. It looked as though he needed time to gel with his teammates again.

The offense, while not as explosive on Friday night, still was able to make its mark. Howard was able to bring his goal total to five and his points to six on the weekend as he added another goal to tie the game at 1-1 early in the second. The goal came off of a turnover that Patrick Geary sent up ice and hit Howard with a great pass. At that point Howard did not miss, and continued his goal filled weekend. About ten minutes later, Joey Larson was able to get the lead off a pass from Geary as he wrapped around the net.

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Unfortunately, that would be all the good news for Michigan State hockey for the rest of the game. The Nittany Lions scored with less than two minutes remaining in the third period. The Spartans eventually lost the game in a shootout. The game did not go down as a loss though. Unlike in the NHL, college hockey allows ties, the shootout just determines who gets an extra point for the conference standings.

Overall thoughts

Coming off of a great winter break with the GLI championship, opening the year at home, and the overtime thriller at Wrigley, this weekend felt almost anticlimactic. There were some electric moments, especially the four goal game from Isaac Howard. The Spartans definitely played Penn State much closer than many would have thought. As far as the rankings go, the Spartans will likely not see a shift because a number of other top programs also lost over the weekend. This series should serve as a wake-up call to the team though that there is not much room for error.

The extra point that the Spartans lost in the second game may loom large later in the season. The team is currently still holding on to first place in the Big Ten, but only by one point. The Spartans have 28 points, while Minnesota has 27. The standings only make the pair of games this weekend against the Wolverines that much more important.

Michigan State hockey will now be focused on their arch rivals the Michigan Wolverines. The Friday night game will be at Yost Ice Arena in Ann Arbor. Puck drop will be at 7 p.m. ET. On Saturday, the game will be at Munn Ice Arena. Puck drop will be at 7:30 p.m. ET. The Friday night game will be streaming on BTN+ and the Saturday night game will be airing on Big Ten Network. As always, the game will also be available for audio on the Spartan Media Network.