Michigan State University
Wisconsin
Badgers Hold Off Spartans, 2-1
2/21/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
MADISON, Wisconsin - The Michigan State hockey team dropped its series opener at Wisconsin on Friday night, 2-1, at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wisconsin. The Badgers' two-goal second period proved to be the difference in the game as the Spartans (12-13-2, 6-5-2-2 Big Ten) remain tied with Penn State for third place in the conference.
"Our performance wasn't good enough tonight," MSU head coach Tom Anastos said. "We left too much on the table and weren't able to score when we needed to score and as a result we got what we deserved."
After a scoreless opening 20 minutes, the Badgers (4-19-4, 2-9-2-2) took a 1-0 lead just over six minutes into the second period after a faceoff in the MSU end. UW won the draw back to defenseman Chase Drake, who wristed a shot from inside the blue line that got through and beat MSU goaltender Jake Hildebrand.
The Spartans got their first power play less than a minute after the UW goal and nearly tied the game when Matt Berry's redirection to the left of UW goaltender Joel Rumpel clinked off the crossbar.
It marked the second time the Spartans hit a post in the game as Michael Ferrantino rang a shot off the pipe during a shorthanded attempt in the opening period.
Wisconsin extended its lead to 2-0 with 27.1 seconds to go in the second period.
Grant Besse set up the play when he curled behind Hildebrand and hit Kevin Schulze with a pass in the left circle. Schulze wasted no time and ripped a shot into the upper corner of the net.
An interference penalty to Wisconsin's Jack Dougherty sent MSU back to the power play just 25 seconds into the third period. The Spartans capitalized when Joe Cox's one-timer from the low slot beat Rumpel with 17:49 on the clock.
Michael Ferrantino started the play along the boards with a nice pass to Ryan Keller behind the net. Keller's perfect feed got through to Cox, who one-timed the puck into the net for his third goal of the season.
The goal energized the Spartans' play for the remainder of the game as they created several more scoring chances as the period progressed. However, Rumpel denied the remaining opportunities to help the Badgers hang on.
MSU outshot the Badgers 33-18 for the game, including by a 15-4 margin in the final period.
"I thought we played fine (after the goal)," Anastos said. "But why did it take so long? Do we have to wait to score a goal to get going? That's not good enough and that's disappointing."
MSU finished 1-for-4 on the power play; UW was 0-for-1.
The two teams will meet again Saturday night at 8 p.m. ET.
