Spartans stay calm, beat Penn State, eye weekend sweep
Jim Comparoni • SpartanMag.com
@JimComparoni
EAST LANSING - Michigan State’s journey into national competitiveness, with an eye on some day regaining national prominence, hit a new milepost on Friday: The Spartans dealt with handling a big, diminishing lead.
Michigan State led No. 17-ranked Penn State 5-1 midway through the second period, but the Nittany Lions cut it to 5-3 prior to the second intermission.
The Spartans stopped Penn State’s momentum in the third period and secured a 5-3 victory before 5,185 at Munn Ice Arena.
The two teams will play again, Saturday at 7 p.m.
Having seen a four-goal lead quickly cut in half, late in the second period, one might have expected some tight throats in the Spartan dressing room prior to the third period.
Second-year head coach Danton Cole saw it as a teaching moment. He turned to senior defenseman Zach Osburn and fed him the right psychological formula.
“Our captains and leadership group do a pretty good job and just told Ozzie, ‘Hey tell the guys to take a deep breath. We won that period,’” Cole said.
Michigan State had out-scored Penn State 3-2 in the second period, but it might not have felt like it when the Nittany Lions scored at the 11:09 and 17:53 mark of the second period and applied heavy pressure in the final minute of the second, coming close to drawing within one.
But Osburn’s message resonated with his young teammates. Cole took it from there.
“I told them, ‘Hey, we won the first period, we won the second period, that’s pretty good, let’s take care of the third,” Cole said. “I told them the things that we did that worked, let’s go back and do them.
“It was pretty calm in there. (Assistant coach) Joe (Exter) talked about the penalty kill. More than that, I wanted to stay physical and keep our speed on the way back in transition and get the puck on the other side of their D.”
Penn State out-shot Michigan State 19-6 in the third period, but the Spartans kept Grade A chances to a minimum, scaled back its forecheck and preserved a big win.
(Click on the photos below to watch key goals from Friday's game).
WHAT IT MEANS
With three games remaining in the regular season, Michigan State jumped past Penn State, for now, into fifth place in the Big Ten. The top four in the Big Ten earn home ice for the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals, March 8-10.
However, Minnesota upset first-place, No. 3-ranked Ohio State, 4-3.
Notre Dame, which went into Friday in third place, fell to fourth in being upset by last-place Wisconsin, 2-1.
Notre Dame and Penn State each have five Big Ten games remaining, whereas Michigan State has three.
Michigan State (7-10-4 in the Big Ten and 11-15-5 overall) could end up in last place in the Big Ten. Or, with a win on Saturday and a Gophers loss at Ohio State, the Spartans could be tied with Michigan and Minnesota for second place by Saturday night. Things are incredibly tight between second place and seventh place in the league.
“We’ll take that win and put it in the bank and we’ve got a chance to do something really good and win a game tomorrow,” Cole said.
Penn State fell to 8-10-1 in the Big Ten and 16-11-2 overall.
Michigan State has won two of its three games against Penn State this year and will try to make it three of four on Saturday.
THE REST OF IT
Five different Spartans scored on Friday as Michigan State enjoyed more balanced scoring than has been the case most of the season.
* Fourth-line sophomore winger Austin Kamer (Grand Rapids) had a goal and an assist.
* Junior center Patrick Khodernko (Walnut Creek, Calif) gave Michigan State a 1-0 lead on a 5-on-3 power play in the first period. It was his 17th goal of the season.
* Sophomore defenseman Tommy Miller (West Bloomfield), freshman forward Adam Goodsir(Okemos, Mich.) and senior forward Brennan Sanford (East Lansing) also scored for Michigan State.
For Miller, Goodsir and Kamer, it was each player’s second goal of the season. Kamer has two goals in the last three games.
It was Sanford’s fourth goal.
* Junior goaltender John Lethemon made a career-high 44 saves, getting his first start since losing at Notre Dame, 6-3, six games ago on Jan. 25.
“It was good to get Lethemon in,” Cole said. “He had a nice game for us.”
* Penn State averages 4.6 goals per game on the year, so Michigan State held the high-scoring Nittany Lions under their average. But Penn State out-shot Michigan State 47-26.
* Cole was pleased to get some work out of his fourth line in the first two periods, including goals from Goodsir and Kamer. However the fourth line played very little in the third period as Cole shortened his bench in order to stem Penn State’s momentum.
Penn State goes four deep with its lines with no problem.
“The way the game is played and the way Penn State plays, you’re sprinting up and sprinting back,” Cole said. “There’s a lot of work there. You just have so much more energy (when you can play four lines).”
“Going into Saturday night, it was nice (to get some work out of the fourth line). Not only did they give us some ice time, but Goody’s line got a goal for us and that was great.”
* Junior captain Sam Saliba won three face-offs in the final minute as Michigan State protected the two-goal lead. Saliba is a second-line center.
Cole put Saliba on the ice with first-line winger and Hobey Baker candidate Taro Hirose, along with second-line right wing Cody Milan, a senior. They played the final :40 seconds as Penn State pulled its goalie and applied pressure. Saliba’s face-off wins helped slow Penn State’s late-game charge.
Saliba was 15-4 on face-offs for the night, the best for either team.
QUOTING COLE:
* “We knew Penn State would put a lot of pressure on. I thought as the game went on we handled it a little better and got away from trying to be cute going from A to B and just got some pucks on the other side of them and all of the sudden it was 5-1. It was kind of a fun little streak there for awhile. I thought the guys did a good job.”
On allowing two power play goals in four opportunities.
* “Give them credit, they threw pucks at the net. We were a little off in a lot of the stuff we did. I didn’t think our rotation was good out top at all. Our forwards were like they were in the movie ‘Hoosiers,’ running the picket fence and they got caught watching the paint dry.
“We have to be a little bit quicker. What happens is if you get twisted out top, then the defensemen can’t just turn and pick guys up around the net. They have to try to block shots, plus cover the guy, and you can’t do that.
“We’ll be better (on the penalty kill) tomorrow. The first one was text book. I don’t think they even got a shot on their first power play. Then after that, it was a little bit of a Chinese firedrill.”
Jim Comparoni • SpartanMag.com
@JimComparoni
EAST LANSING - Michigan State’s journey into national competitiveness, with an eye on some day regaining national prominence, hit a new milepost on Friday: The Spartans dealt with handling a big, diminishing lead.
Michigan State led No. 17-ranked Penn State 5-1 midway through the second period, but the Nittany Lions cut it to 5-3 prior to the second intermission.
The Spartans stopped Penn State’s momentum in the third period and secured a 5-3 victory before 5,185 at Munn Ice Arena.
The two teams will play again, Saturday at 7 p.m.
Having seen a four-goal lead quickly cut in half, late in the second period, one might have expected some tight throats in the Spartan dressing room prior to the third period.
Second-year head coach Danton Cole saw it as a teaching moment. He turned to senior defenseman Zach Osburn and fed him the right psychological formula.
“Our captains and leadership group do a pretty good job and just told Ozzie, ‘Hey tell the guys to take a deep breath. We won that period,’” Cole said.
Michigan State had out-scored Penn State 3-2 in the second period, but it might not have felt like it when the Nittany Lions scored at the 11:09 and 17:53 mark of the second period and applied heavy pressure in the final minute of the second, coming close to drawing within one.
But Osburn’s message resonated with his young teammates. Cole took it from there.
“I told them, ‘Hey, we won the first period, we won the second period, that’s pretty good, let’s take care of the third,” Cole said. “I told them the things that we did that worked, let’s go back and do them.
“It was pretty calm in there. (Assistant coach) Joe (Exter) talked about the penalty kill. More than that, I wanted to stay physical and keep our speed on the way back in transition and get the puck on the other side of their D.”
Penn State out-shot Michigan State 19-6 in the third period, but the Spartans kept Grade A chances to a minimum, scaled back its forecheck and preserved a big win.
(Click on the photos below to watch key goals from Friday's game).
WHAT IT MEANS
With three games remaining in the regular season, Michigan State jumped past Penn State, for now, into fifth place in the Big Ten. The top four in the Big Ten earn home ice for the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals, March 8-10.
However, Minnesota upset first-place, No. 3-ranked Ohio State, 4-3.
Notre Dame, which went into Friday in third place, fell to fourth in being upset by last-place Wisconsin, 2-1.
Notre Dame and Penn State each have five Big Ten games remaining, whereas Michigan State has three.
Michigan State (7-10-4 in the Big Ten and 11-15-5 overall) could end up in last place in the Big Ten. Or, with a win on Saturday and a Gophers loss at Ohio State, the Spartans could be tied with Michigan and Minnesota for second place by Saturday night. Things are incredibly tight between second place and seventh place in the league.
“We’ll take that win and put it in the bank and we’ve got a chance to do something really good and win a game tomorrow,” Cole said.
Penn State fell to 8-10-1 in the Big Ten and 16-11-2 overall.
Michigan State has won two of its three games against Penn State this year and will try to make it three of four on Saturday.
THE REST OF IT
Five different Spartans scored on Friday as Michigan State enjoyed more balanced scoring than has been the case most of the season.
* Fourth-line sophomore winger Austin Kamer (Grand Rapids) had a goal and an assist.
* Junior center Patrick Khodernko (Walnut Creek, Calif) gave Michigan State a 1-0 lead on a 5-on-3 power play in the first period. It was his 17th goal of the season.
* Sophomore defenseman Tommy Miller (West Bloomfield), freshman forward Adam Goodsir(Okemos, Mich.) and senior forward Brennan Sanford (East Lansing) also scored for Michigan State.
For Miller, Goodsir and Kamer, it was each player’s second goal of the season. Kamer has two goals in the last three games.
It was Sanford’s fourth goal.
* Junior goaltender John Lethemon made a career-high 44 saves, getting his first start since losing at Notre Dame, 6-3, six games ago on Jan. 25.
“It was good to get Lethemon in,” Cole said. “He had a nice game for us.”
* Penn State averages 4.6 goals per game on the year, so Michigan State held the high-scoring Nittany Lions under their average. But Penn State out-shot Michigan State 47-26.
* Cole was pleased to get some work out of his fourth line in the first two periods, including goals from Goodsir and Kamer. However the fourth line played very little in the third period as Cole shortened his bench in order to stem Penn State’s momentum.
Penn State goes four deep with its lines with no problem.
“The way the game is played and the way Penn State plays, you’re sprinting up and sprinting back,” Cole said. “There’s a lot of work there. You just have so much more energy (when you can play four lines).”
“Going into Saturday night, it was nice (to get some work out of the fourth line). Not only did they give us some ice time, but Goody’s line got a goal for us and that was great.”
* Junior captain Sam Saliba won three face-offs in the final minute as Michigan State protected the two-goal lead. Saliba is a second-line center.
Cole put Saliba on the ice with first-line winger and Hobey Baker candidate Taro Hirose, along with second-line right wing Cody Milan, a senior. They played the final :40 seconds as Penn State pulled its goalie and applied pressure. Saliba’s face-off wins helped slow Penn State’s late-game charge.
Saliba was 15-4 on face-offs for the night, the best for either team.
QUOTING COLE:
* “We knew Penn State would put a lot of pressure on. I thought as the game went on we handled it a little better and got away from trying to be cute going from A to B and just got some pucks on the other side of them and all of the sudden it was 5-1. It was kind of a fun little streak there for awhile. I thought the guys did a good job.”
On allowing two power play goals in four opportunities.
* “Give them credit, they threw pucks at the net. We were a little off in a lot of the stuff we did. I didn’t think our rotation was good out top at all. Our forwards were like they were in the movie ‘Hoosiers,’ running the picket fence and they got caught watching the paint dry.
“We have to be a little bit quicker. What happens is if you get twisted out top, then the defensemen can’t just turn and pick guys up around the net. They have to try to block shots, plus cover the guy, and you can’t do that.
“We’ll be better (on the penalty kill) tomorrow. The first one was text book. I don’t think they even got a shot on their first power play. Then after that, it was a little bit of a Chinese firedrill.”
