Michigan State University
Wisconsin
Spartans fall, 7-3, to Badgers
11/27/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Nov. 27, 2009
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Coach Rick | Derek Grant
East Lansing, Mich. - Derek Grant had a goal and a pair of assists, but it came in a losing effort as No. 7/8 Michigan State fell to visiting Wisconsin, 7-3, on Friday night at Munn Arena. The Spartans lost their first home game of the season and fell to 9-4-2 overall, while 15th-ranked Wisconsin had a pair of two-goal scorers in Brendan Smith and Michael Davies (each with two goals and an assist) to improve to 8-4-1 overall.
The visiting Badgers scored twice within a three-minute span to jump out to a 2-0 lead. The first came from Brendan Smith, who took a feed from Derek Stephan and buried it into the lower right corner at 9:23; Michigan State allowed its first power-play goal in five games at 12:25, when Michael Davies had two shots at the left post that were saved by Palmisano, and then he moved the puck to Smith in the right circle for the blueliner's second of the night.
Michigan State snapped its power-play jinx just past the midway point of the second period. Skating on the man advantage in a penalty-riddled period, the Spartans had the puck low. Jeff Petry had the shot from the left point; after a defenseman knocked Petry's shot down, the loose puck went right onto the stick of Nick Sucharski, who dished it off to Derek Grant at the right post for the freshman's seventh goal of the season.
Wisconsin battled right back , getting a pair of goals a minute apart shortly after the Spartans had cut the lead in half. Aaron Bendickson had the first score, backhanding a wraparound attempt past Palmisano at the right post. The second goal came from Davies, as he poked a netward shot with an extended stick to beat Palmisano at the left post. That score spelled the end of the night for Palmisano, and Bobby Jarosz entered the game. Palmisano exited with 21 saves and four goals against in just over 34 minutes of work.
At 17:15, Stepan got his first goal of the night after assisting on three others, finishing a play at the left post to send the visitors to a 5-1 lead. The Spartans battled, however, and scored a power-play tally with 3.2 seconds remaining in the second frame. Grant had a shot from the doorstep to the right of Bennett, and Corey Tropp - looking for a rebound - was bowled into the netminder by a defenseman. The puck skitted out to the right side for Matt Grassi, who had a wide-open net into which he deposited his first collegiate tally.
The Spartans chipped into the lead again just 15 seconds into the third. Jeff Petry made a nice play to keep the puck in the offensive zone at the right point, and threw the puck into the zone just below the left circle. Grant corralled it there, and sent the puck across the low slot to Tropp on the doorstep at the right post, and Tropp netted his 10th goal of the season.
The pace of the third period was frenetic at times with action at both ends, and the Spartans had a couple good chances to carve into the lead again. With penalties called just eight seconds apart, the Badgers had a short man advantage, but made the Spartans pay for it at 11:42 when Blake Geoffrion and Smith had a lone MSU defender pinned deep; Geoffrioin took a feed from Smith and held it at the bottom of the right circle, held it to get Jarosz to commit, and beat the netminder over his glove hand. Davies wrapped up the scoring for UW with a power-play marker from the hash marks at 17:45.
The Spartans look to rebound from a two-game losing streak when Minnesota comes to Munn Arena for a Saturday night tilt. Gametime is 7 p.m.
NOTES: MSU scored three goals after scoring four in its last three games combined ... The Badgers' seven goals was the most scored against MSU this season, surpassing the five allowed to Maine on Oct. 16 ... Michigan State has allowed the first goal of the game to their opponent in the last three games ... The Spartans snapped a string of 23 power-play chances without a goal with Derek Grant's extra-man marker in the second period, their sixth chance of the night ... Two of MSU's scores came on the power play in the second period, the first time MSU had multiple power-play goals in a game since the Nov. 5 game vs. Omaha ... The Badgers, who average 38.8 shots per game, outshot the Spartans by a 36-29 margin ...
