Michigan State University Athletics
Michigan State University
8-9-1, 2-7-1-1
Michigan
7-7-2, 3-5-2-1
Spartans Blitz Michigan, 5-0
12/8/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
EAST LANSING - The Michigan State hockey team shut out Michigan, 5-0, on Friday night at Munn Ice Arena to earn a series split with the Wolverines. Patrick Khodorenko scored twice, Taro Hirose had three assists and John Lethemon made 29 saves for his third shutout of the season.
"It was obviously a little different than last night," MSU head coach Danton Cole said. "Give our guys a lot of credit for figuring out some energy, some focus and commitment and bouncing back from a game like that last night.
"I like the way we skated, we were physical and we shot the puck. We just have to continue to learn and have to figure out how to do that more often, but we're getting there. It's a good way to end the first half (of our schedule)."
The Spartans (8-9-1, 2-7-1-1) grabbed a 2-0 first-period lead with the help of two goals from Khodorenko.
Michigan State needed just five seconds on its first power play of the night to make it 1-0. Khodorenko won the draw in the right circle to Mitchell Lewandowski, who immediately fed the puck to Hirose at the point. Hirose drifted to his left toward the center of the blue line and hit Khodorenko with a perfect feed, who was just off the right side of the crease, for a deflection into the net.
The Spartans made the most of some pressure at the end of the first as Khodorenko made it 2-0 with 4.9 seconds to play in the period. Mitch Eliot got the puck to Lewandowski in the right corner, who then fed it out to Jerad Rosburg at the point. Rosburg let a rising snap shot go that Khodorenko got his stick on, deflecting it up over U-M goaltender Hayden Lavigne.
The Spartans cashed in on another power-play chance to make it 3-0 with 10:46 to play in the second period. Hirose made a perfect cross-ice pass to Lewandowski low in the right circle and he hammered a one-timer high past Lavigne for his 10th goal of the year.
Heavy, sustained pressure by the Spartans resulted in their fourth goal. Eventually, Eliot was the benefactor as he took the puck from Cody Milan and ripped a shot upstairs from the right circle to push the MSU lead to 4-0.
MSU used the power play for the third time in the game 4:44 into the third period to make it 5-0 as Hirose and Rosburg set up Logan Lambdin for a one-timer in the slot.
Michigan (7-7-2, 3-5-2-1) finished with a 29-26 edge in shots on goal.
Lethemon made several big saves early on when the game was in doubt, including four stops on three Michigan power plays in the second period.
"He was outstanding tonight," Cole said of Lethemon.
MSU was 3-for-5 on the man-advantage and extinguished all four U-M power plays.
Friday's five-goal margin of victory was the Spartans' largest over Michigan since a 7-2 win in 2012.
The Spartans will play an exhibition game next weekend against the U.S. National Team Development Program U-18 team in Plymouth on Saturday, Dec. 16.
