Michigan State University
Northern Michigan (QF)
Spartans Get Leg Up In Quarterfinal Series
3/14/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
March 14, 2008
Post-Game Audio
Head Coach Rick Comley
Junior Tim Kennedy
Junior Jeff Lerg
East Lansing, Mich. - Michigan State tallied three power-play goals and blew open a tight game with three third-period scores to post a 5-1 victory over Northern Michigan on Friday night in the opening game of a CCHA best-of-three quarterfinal series. Tim Kennedy and Tim Crowder each had a goal and an assist, and Jeff Lerg made 24 saves in the win. MSU improves to 24-9-5, while Northern falls to 17-19-4.
The Spartans showed no rust from their week layoff, as they came out hard early. Despite allowing an early shorthanded tally to the Wildcats, the Spartans were quick to establish their game.
"I was happy with the way we came out tonight," noted captain Bryan Lerg. "Maybe the week off did us some good - it allowed us to maybe get away from the rink a little bit and be fresh to start the playoffs. I think the most important part was that we played a strong third period - that's what we're going to have to do in the playoffs to be successful."
"I thought we played very well," added head coach Rick Comley. "We have a lot of veterans, and they've been through it. Our concern was how we would start after being off for two weeks. It was good early and we knew that it was going to be a tight game."
The teams traded goals within a minute early in the opening frame. The visitors jumped on the board first, while the Spartans were on the power play. Nick Sirota won a footrace to a loose puck and broke up the left wall on a two-on-one break; he threw the puck through the high slot to Mark Olver, who faked forehand and beat Jeff Lerg with a nifty backhander at 4:33. It was Northern's eighth shorthanded tally of the season.
The Spartans were not down long, as senior captain Bryan Lerg potted his 19th goal of the season, and tenth on the power play. Taking the cross-slot pass from Tim Crowder, Lerg saw Stewart commit too far to the near post; he circled behind the net to stuff home the puck at the far post past two sprawling defenders.
The Wildcats had a bid for a 2-0 lead at the eight minute mark when Gregor Hanson attempted to snipe a goal high glove-side on Lerg in the low slot, but the netminder flashed his hand and made the highlight-reel save.
While the Spartans struggled to get pucks to the net in the series in early February, MSU moved the puck well and had 18 shots on goal in the first period alone and 32 through two periods. The game was physical in the corners and featured end-to-end action.
Michigan State tallied its second power-play tally of the night at 16:29 of the middle frame. Alan Dorich was whistled for elbowing, and it took just six seconds for the Spartans to put the goal in the board. Petry moved the puck from the right point to Kennedy in the left circle, who one-timed it to Justin Abdelkader at the right dot. Abdelkader beat Stewart glove-side for his 18th goal of the season.
MSU added to its lead at 5:42 in the third. Nick Sucharski won the faceoff in the offensive zone, and pushed the puck into the left corner. Dustin Gazely worked low to control the puck in the corner, and passed it back out to Sucharski, who was just below the dot in the left circle. Sucharski's shot sailed over the glove-hand shoulder of Stewart for the 3-1 Spartan advantage. Tim Crowder's power-play blast from the half-wall at 11:04 pushed the lead to 4-1, then Tim Kennedy added his 19th of the season at 13:44. Kennedy's goal was an outstanding individual effort, as he skated up the left wall, held the puck to go around the defender going down to block the shot, then backhanded the puck netward. His offering hit the post, then trickled over the line.
Jeff Lerg kept the Wildcats off the board, making 12 of his 24 saves in the final period.
The teams will face off again on Saturday evening at 7:05 p.m. A Michigan State victory sends the Spartans to the CCHA Championship weekend in Detroit, while an NMU win forces a decisive game three on Sunday.
NOTES: Michigan State improved to 50-4 all-time in home playoff games and 37-10 in quarterfinal contests ...The Spartans have won five straight in the Northern Michigan series at Munn Arena ... The Spartans snapped a two-game postseason losing streak to the Wildcats ... MSU is just 3-8-3 when allowing its opponent to score the game's first goal ... The Spartans are 20-0-2 when allowing two goals or fewer ... Jeff Lerg tallied his fourth career assist - and the first one to come against a team other than Northern Michgian ... Tim Kennedy and Justin Abdelkader increased their active point-scoring streaks to seven games ... Kennedy and Bryan Lerg each had a goal tonight, and lead the team with 19 goals ... Jeff Lerg needs seven saves tomorrow to move past Mike Buzak into fourth place on the career saves list at MSU. Lerg has 2,830 in 110 career games, and became the first goaltender in the country this season to crack 1,000 saves. He enters Saturday's game with 1,010 ... Lerg has allowed two goals or fewer in 67 of 110 games played in his 110 career contests, which includes 27 games in which he has allowed just one goal (including tonight) and ten shutouts ... Justin Abdelkader's second-period goal was his fifth game-winner of the season, tying him or the team lead (and fifth nationally) with Tim Kennedy. Abdelkader has had the game-winning tally for MSU in three of its last four victories ... Three MSU defenseman each have 19 assists on the season: Daniel Vukovic, Michael Ratchuk, and Jeff Petry. Petry and Vukovic each have three goals, while Ratchuk has six ... The Spartan penalty kill extinguished all six chances against, and has run its streak to 18 cosecutive successful kills dating back to the Michigan game at Joe Louis Arena ... Rick Comley is now 15-6 in the CCHA Tournament in six seasons as the MSU mentor ...
