Michigan State University
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Western Michigan
Spartans Fall at WMU, 4-3
11/5/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Nov. 5, 2010
Kalamazoo, Mich. - Michigan State got a pair of tallies from junior Brett Perlini, but Western Michigan got a third-period power-play marker to break a 3-3 tie and take a 4-3 victory from the Spartans on Friday evening in Kalamazoo. Mike Merrifield had the other MSU tally, as the Green & White fall to 3-1-3 on the season (1-1-1-0 CCHA). The loss was the first of the season for the Spartans, who saw their six-game unbeaten streak to start the season come to an end.
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Western took its first and only lead of the game seven minutes into the third period, and that tally would stand as the game-winner. Skating on the power play, Shane Berschbach made a cross-slot pass to Matt Tennyson from the right post, and Tennyson had an empty left side for his second marker of the night. Despite pressing to the final buzzer, the Spartans could not force an extra period, and fell for the first time this season.
Perlini gave MSU an early lead with his fifth goal of the season at 3:44. With the teams skating four a side, Jake Chelios intercepted a pass in the defensive zone and sent a lead pass to Derek Grant. Grant sent the puck in and retrieved it from behind the net from a Bronco defender, and fed it out front to Perlini, who buried his second chance off a rebound for a 1-0 lead.
Perlini gave the Spartans a 2-0 lead with just over five minutes remaining in the opening frame. After Torey Krug carried it out of the defensive zone and pushed it to partner Matt Grassi, Grassi found Perlini just ahead of the blue line, and the winger brought it across into the offensive zone in a one-on-one with the goalie. Perlini's snipe beat goalie Nick Pisellini low, glove-side.
The Spartans had to kill off more than a minute and a half of a penalty to Chris Forfar whistled in the waning moments of the first period to open the second frame, but the trouble came just after the successful kill when WMU put a pair of goals on the board 1:31 apart to turn a 2-0 deficit into a tie ballgame. Tennyson opened the scoring for the Broncos at 3:21, as he whistled a shot from the left point through traffic. A neutral-zone turnover led to Western's second goal 91 seconds later, as Greg Squires finished the play from the slot.
Michigan State was not without fight, getting an unassisted goal from Merrifield, his second of the season, 63 seconds after Squires had pulled the home team even. Merrifield's snipe came from the bottom of the left circle, fooling Pisellini over his left shoulder. Western Michigan got another tying goal late in the second period to send the teams to the locker room knotted at three. Max Campbell got the goal for the Broncos from the left side, netting his fourth of the season. The teams battled through that final period, but only Western Michigan would find the back of the net in the frame for the eventual game-winner. Drew Palmisano made 26 saves in the loss, while Pisellini finished with 23 for the home team.
The two squads will face off on Saturday evening at 7:35 p.m. to wrap up the two-game set.
NOTES: Michigan State has scored three or more goals in five of its seven games ... MSU saw its six-game unbeaten streak to start the season end ... MSU had a six-game unbeaten streak against the Broncos (5-0-1) snapped ... Drew Palmisano suffered his first loss at Lawson Ice Arena. He tied his first game - his first collegiate start, as a freshman - and came away with a win in his sophomore season ... Brett Perlini scored his fifth and sixth goals of the season in the first period, putting him just one shy of his sophomore-year total (7) just seven games into the season. He appeared in 20 games a year ago ... Perlini has a goal in three straight games and points in six of seven contests ... Perlini also recorded his second career multiple-goal game. His first was on Dec. 29, 2009 against Michigan Tech ... Torey Krug has assists in four consecutive contests ... Jake Chelios has a point in three of the last four games, as does winger Derek Grant. All of Grant's points this season are assists ... Mike Merrifield got his first goal since Oct. 14, the first game of the season ...
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