Michigan State University
Michigan
Spartans, Wolverines Skate to 2-2 Tie
1/26/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Jan. 26, 2008
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Post-Game Audio: Rick Jeff Bryan Daniel
East Lansing, Mich. - An own goal in the final two minutes of regulation allowed visiting Michigan to forge a 2-2 tie with fifth-ranked Michigan State on Saturday night at Munn Ice Arena. Daniel Vukovic and Tim Crowder scored for MSU, while Jeff Lerg made 29 saves in the deadlock as the Spartans' record went to 17-5-5, 13-2-3 CCHA. Billy Sauer made 32 for the Wolverines, who came into the weekend ranked No. 1 in both national polls. They are now 22-3-1, 15-2-1 CCHA.
Trailing 2-1, the Wolverines got the equalizing tally, a controversial one at that, at 18:22. Carl Hagelin made the pass from the goal line in the left corner to the crease, but Michael Ratchuk was knocked down by a cross-check in front by Matt Rust, who made a swipe at a the loose puck, and batted it into in the air - the puck was then inadvertently batted past Jeff Lerg by a defender in front for the U-M goal. Rust was credited with the score, with the assist going to Hagelin.
Michigan scored their first goal of the series at the 6:38 mark of the second frame. Max Pacioretty, stationed in the slot on the right hash mark, one-timed a pass from Chad Kolarik in the right corner over the glove-hand shoulder of Jeff Lerg on the power play. The extra-man goal snapped MSU's streak of 32 consecutive kills over eight-plus games.
Michigan State jumped right back in it with a pair of power-play tallies of their own 46 seconds apart to turn the game in its favor. Michigan blueliner Mark Mitera and centerman Matt Rust were sent off for tripping and slashing, respectively, at 11:23 and 11:50. Daniel Vukovic netted the first goal with the Spartans skating five-on-three, an absolute rocket that he one-timed from the blue line after getting the pass from Bryan Lerg on the left half-wall. Vukovic's offering made its way through two Wolverine defenders in front, and beat Sauer. Tim Crowder got the go-ahead tally at 13:46, taking his assist from Nick Sucharski and shooting from the left circle.
The teams both had good chances in the third - Tim Kennedy had a prime chance less than a minute into the final period that ended as a tremendous save by Sauer, and a four-one-one break for the Spartans, led by Kennedy, that rang off of the crossbar. The Wolverines got the controversial equalizer in the final two minutes, but the Spartans owned the overtime, outshooting Michigan 4-0, thanks in part to a power-play opportunity. Kennedy and Brandon Gentile both had great chances in the opening minute of the extra frame, but Sauer managed all four saves in the fourth period to preserve the deadlock. MSU extended its streak to 20 overtime games (6-0-14) without a loss.
Michigan State will continue its three-game homestand next weekend when it hosts Nebraska-Omaha on Friday and Saturday.
NOTES: MSU remained unbeaten in eight games (5-0-3) since Jan. 1 ... The Spartans' CCHA unbeaten streak has reached 12 games (9-0-3) ... Michigan State got its third tie in four weekends, and all were in the second game of a CCHA set. The announced crowd of 7,072 was the sixth largest in Munn Arena history ... The Spartans finished January unbeaten (5-0-3) - their first unbeaten regular-season month since February of 2006 (6-0-1) ... Jeff Lerg's shutout streak was snapped at 190:54 when he allowed the second-period power play tally to Max Pacioretty. It was the third power-play chance of the game for the Wolverines, but their first shot on net with an extra man ... The Spartans are now 2-4-3 when allowing opponents the first goal of the game, MSU's penalty-killing streak ended at 32 consecutive kills, but MSU killed four of five chances on the night ...
