Michigan State University
Mercyhurst
Spartans Extend Winning Streak to Seven
11/9/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Nov. 9, 2007
East Lansing, Mich. - Michigan State got a two-goal effort from junior forward Tim Kennedy and a three-point night by classmate Justin Abdelkader to pace the Spartans to a 6-2 non-conference victory over Mercyhurst on Friday night at Munn Ice Arena. The Spartans improved to 7-1-0 on the year with its seventh consecutive victory, the longest winning streak in the nation. Mercyhurst falls to 1-7-1.
Michigan State took its first lead at 8:48. The Spartans had good pressure early, outshooting their visitors by a 6-2 margin. With MSU pressing in the zone, Brandon Gentile slid a pass the length of the blue line to Ryan Turek at the left point, who sent a rocket netward. Justin Abdelkader tipped the puck in front enough to deflect past Zapolski for the junior winger's fourth goal of the season.
Zapolski was the difference early, making point-blank saves and keeping the game close before the Spartans tacked on another at 14:29. A heavily-marked Nick Sucharski made a backhand attempt from the low slot that was saved by Zapolski, but the rebound came back out to the hash marks. Corey Tropp pounced on the puck and shot the puck low, glove-side to beat Zapolski for his first goal in four games.
A too many men penalty gave the Lakers their first power play opportunity of the night at 15:21, but Jeff Lerg was as good as his Mercyhurst counterpart, making three great saves as the Lakers pressed to get into the game. The Spartans earned a power play at 17:48 to skate on the man advantage for most of the balance of the opening period - but the Laker kill was up to the task and MSU took its 2-0 lead into the first intermission.
Kennedy padded the MSU lead with a power-play strike at 6:54, his sixth on the season on the man advantage. Kennedy got the puck from Abdelkader, walked out of the right corner, and shot the puck around the defender to beat Zapolski low, stick-side.
Mercyhurst broke up the shutout at 9:56. Scott Pitt was heavily defended at the bottom of the right faceoff circle, and his shot was saved by Jeff Lerg, but the rebound went into the slot for a crashing Neil Graham, who recorded his first tally of the season.
The Spartans got the puck back almost immediately, putting a Bryan Lerg tally on the board at 10:44. Matt Schepke tried to corral a loose puck in the low slot, and was able to settle it at the right post for the senior captain, who tucked it past the glove-hand of Zapolski.
The Lakers continued to press to cut into the lead, and got on the board with a power-play strike at 15:36. With Abdelkader in the box on an interference call, leading scorer Ben Cottreau lofted the puck over the stick-hand shoulder of Jeff Lerg off a feed from Pitt.
Kennedy tacked on another goal, this time skating shorthanded, at 11:05 of the final period. With Justin Johnston in the box, Kennedy picked up a loose puck in the defensive zone, went in alone, and held the puck long enough for the goaltender to commit before he tucked it past Zapolski's right pad.
Matt Schepke closed out the scoring for the Spartans at 17:46 of the third, off assists fro Crowder and Mike Ratchuk,
The two teams will meet again on Saturday in East Lansing at 7:05 p.m.
NOTES: MSU's winning streak, now at seven games, is the longest in the country. MSU and Michigan have both won seven straight games, and took the lead when No. 1 Miami fell to Notre Dame, 2-1, in Oxford ... The seven-game winning streak is the longest in Rick Comley's tenure, and MSU's longest since a nine-game skein during the Frozen Four season of 2000-01 ... Kennedy, the national leader in power-play goals entering the weekend, tacked on his sixth of the season in the second period. It extended his goal-scoring and point-streak to six games, a career best for consecutive games with a goal ... Kennedy also had his second multiple-goal effort in the last three games with his third-period shorthanded effort ... Kennedy also leads the country in game-winning goals (3) ... Nick Sucharski extended his point-scoring streak to four games (0-5-5), one short of his career best ... Petry has registered points in four of the last five games ... Bryan Lerg has scored a goal in three of the last four games, and in two straight contests ... Daniel Vukovic continues to share the team's scoring lead - he has two goals and eight assists on the season. Vukovic has put together his second three-game point streak of the season, bettering his career-best of two entering the season ...
