Neil's Notebook: Spartans Edged by Minnesota in Bizarre Game
1/19/2018 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
By Neil Koepke
MSUSpartans.com staff writer
EAST LANSING -- It was one of the most exciting games Michigan State has played all season.
And one of the most frustrating.
And without question, the most bizarre game the Spartans have played this season and probably in several seasons.
In a game that featured three shorthanded goals, two fluke goals on long shots, two major penalties and ejections from checks from behind, three straight goals by each team and a 4-1 lead erased, Minnesota emerged with a 5-4 victory on Thursday night at Munn Arena.
The Gophers broke a 4-4 tie with 2:48 left in the third period on Tyler Sheehy's goal from 30 feet out in the slot, and Minnesota held on to win the Big Ten series opener in front of 5,593 fans.
"Not the way (Minnesota coach) Don (Lucia) or I would draw up a hockey game,'' MSU coach Danton Cole said.
"It was pretty bizarre,'' said Spartan senior defenseman Carson Gatt. "Not exactly the way you draw it up but sometimes those games happen.''
The Spartans (9-15-1 overall, 3-11-1-1 Big Ten) trailed 4-1 seven minutes into the second period as Minnesota (14-12-1, 5-9-1-1) scored three goals within 5 minutes and 7 seconds -- one on the power play and two shorthanded on the same MSU power play.
Then, at 7:35 of the middle period, MSU defenseman Jerad Rosburg was assessed a 5-minute major penalty and game misconduct for checking from behind. Minnesota could have blown the game open with a power-play goal or two.
Instead, Michigan State scored shorthanded -- by Taro Hirose, set up by freshman defenseman Tommy Miller -- to cut its deficit to 4-2. Hirose scored again six minutes later and suddenly the game had a different look.
The Spartans' tying goal added to the craziness of the game as sophomore defenseman Butrus Ghafari scored his first collegiate goal on a weird bounce after firing the puck into the Minnesota zone from a stride over the red line, along the right boards.
The puck hit the backboards, caromed toward the net, hit goalie Eric Schierhorn's left pad and found its way into the right corner of the net at 11:57.
It was the second fluke goal of the night. The Gophers tied the game 1-1 at 13:51 of the first period when forward Jack Ramsey flipped the puck toward the net from about six feet outside the blue line -- right in front of the MSU bench. The puck bounced in front of goalie John Lethemon, took a weird bounce to his right and went into the net.
With the game deadlocked, 4-4, and the Spartans striving to pull out a great come-from-behind win, the Gophers wrote a different script. Sheehy got possession near center ice off a turnover, found room in the middle and fired puck into the low right corner at 17:12 to win it for the visitors.
"It's a tough one. Down 4-1 and to battle back and make it 4-4, that stings,'' Gatt said. "I'm kind of at a loss for words right now.''
MSU had not given up a shorthanded goal all season until late in the second period last Saturday at Wisconsin. It gave the Badgers a 2-1 lead and that ignited a 5-2 victory.
On Thursday, Minnesota went up 2-1 on Steve Johnson's power-play goal on a shot from the point in the middle that found the left corner of the net at 1:48 of the second period.
Then Sheehy scored shorthanded off a 2-on-1 rush at 4:15, and Tommy Novak, set up by Sheehy, cruised in on a breakaway to beat Lethemon at 6:55 to put the Gophers up, 4-1.
A fluke goal and not taking care of the puck on the power play made for a tough night for the Spartans, who kept the game from getting out of hand and then rallied to tie it.
"I don't care if other teams give up (fluke) goals like that. We can't give up goals like that,'' Cole said. "That's just not going to work for us. We also can't give up two shorthanded goals.
"That's two games in a row where our power play, for all practical purposes, cost us a chance to win the hockey game. And it's a power play that has won us games. We can go 0-for-the-power-play but we can't get scored on.
"We don't have the ability to have certain areas of our game not be good.''
The Spartans will try to bounce back and earn a series split when they face the Gophers at 8 p.m. Saturday at Madison Square Garden in New York as part of the third annual "Super Saturday -- College Hoops and Hockey'' doubleheader at MSG. Minnesota and Ohio State starting the day with a men's basketball at noon.
MSU and Minnesota will practice at Munn Arena on Friday morning and then fly to New York for each program's first game in Madison Square Garden.
Meanwhile, despite the obvious negatives on Thursday for the Spartans, there were some bright spots. MSU mounted a great comeback, Hirose had two goals and an assist, Mitchell Lewandowski had one goal, scoring in his fourth straight game for his 15th of the season, and Miller had three assists.
"I liked the way the way we came back, the way we battled. I liked the way we stuck together. Those are all good things and we can build on that,'' Cole said. "But we're going to have to be a whole lot better for a lot more of the game on Saturday.''
Michigan State's power play was out of sync from the beginning and rarely threatened during two power plays, the second of which lasted five minutes and produced only two shots on goal. But the Gophers were aggressive rarely allowed the Spartans to set up.
"They pressed a lot and I give them credit. They did a good job killing, but I don't think our guys worked hard without the puck,'' Cole said. "I don't think we finished our routes, something we talk about all the time, and we didn't move the puck fast enough. Our guys were holding it, holding it. That's not the way we run our power play.
"We'll get back on it and get it straightened out by Saturday.''
Gatt said the Spartans' power-play units expected Minnesota to come at them hard but they didn't move the quick enough to negate the pressure.
"We've seen that from Ohio State and Wisconsin and that's on us to do a better job. We have to move the puck in front of the pressure and we didn't do that tonight,'' he said. "They were on us immediately at our next spot. And they flew some guys (out of the defensive zone) and scored some shorthanded goals. Our power play should be scoring goals not giving them up.''
Gatt liked his team's "grit and determination" after falling behind 4-1 to keep chipping away at the deficit and eventually tie the game.
"You saw Millsie (Tommy Miller) out there for 45 seconds to a minute, stepping up and making a great play, and Taro (Hirose) could have lagged and felt he was tired and not a lot left in the tank,'' Gatt said. "But he goes right to the (left post) and (takes a pass from Miller) put it in, makes it 4-2 and we get the momentum.''
Hirose's shorthanded goal at 8:12 of the second period and skating off four more minutes of the Gophers 5-minute power play gave the Spartans some life. And when Hirose scored again at 14:27, the game that seemed lost was suddenly there for the taking.
"I thought we started off pretty well with that early goal but I think their goal on the lucky bounce took the wind out of us, and they took it to us for a while in the second period,'' Hirose said. "But it showed that we can come back and score when we need to.''
Hirose's shorthanded goal was the catalyst to the comeback.
"Pat (Khodorenko) tied up the puck on the wall, Millsie poked it loose and I saw we had a 2-on-1 and skated as hard as I could and their guy let up a little. I tried to skate to the (left) post and Millsie put it right on my stick.''
On his second goal, Hirose beat Schierhorn from the inside edge of the right circle with a quick wrist shot.
"(Khodorenko) made a good play driving through (the slot) and he gave me some space, and I was looking for Lewie (Lewandowsk) but they took him away and it gave me more space and I just walked in shot it.''
Lethemon made 34 saves while Schierhorn stopped 18 shots, and only three in the second period.
Cole thought his team wastoo defensive minded in the first period in which Minnesota outshot the Spartans, 16-9.
"Even when it was 1-1 in the first period, I thought we were accepting that we'll just play defense, and we're not bad at that,'' Cole said. "But you can't just defend and defend. And I think that mentality carried over to the power play. We weren't attacking and supporting pucks.
"We were watching one guy work, and all of a sudden, we found ourselves down 4-1.''
But three straight goals, including the most bizarre one of the season by Ghafari, tied it and set up a dramatic finish that just went the wrong ways for the Spartans.
TOUGH NIGHT FOR GOALIES: Friday's game won't be one to remember for the opposing goaltenders -- John Lethemon of MSU and Eric Schierhorn of Minnesota.
Each allowed a fluke, crazy-bounce goal and each would like a couple shots back that found their way into the net.
Still, both Lethemon and Schierhorn made some solid saves during stretches where the opposition had some quality chances.
"I think John has earned the right to battle through something like that. He did a really good job of holding down the fort for a good lone time,'' MSU coach Danton Cole said. "You have to go through those things. Sometimes, you make a mistake and you have to get back on the right side of things.
"Hopefully, he'll get something out of this game and hopefully, the team will, too.''
FIRST FOR GHAFARI: Sophomore Butrus Ghafari is known as a physical, stay-at-home defenseman who had not scored a goal in 38 career games at MSU. But the 5-foot-11, 188-pounder from West Bloomfield broke the streak Thursday on a play in which he wasn't even shooting at the net midway through the third period and MSU trailing 4-3.
As he skated over the red line along the right the boards, he saw Taro Hirose racing toward the Gophers zone, so he fired the puck toward the right corner. Then bizarre things happened.
The puck caromed off the backboards toward the Minnesota net. Schierhorn seemed to be tight against the right post but the puck slid into the crease and snuck through Schierhorn and slid over the goal line.
Suddenly, the game was tied 4-4 at 11:57.
"That's how I scored my first USHL (U.S. Hockey League) goal, too -- off the boards. It's a pattern,'' Ghafari said.
"I saw Taro sprinting toward (the Gophers zone) and he kind of pointed, so I tried to get it to him off the end boards. It took some bounces and went off Schierhorn and went in.''
Ghafari didn't even see the puck go into the net.
"I turned to go to the bench and Taro told me it went in,'' he said. "It was definitely a crazy game.''
The Spartans were impressed with Minnesota's speed and skill and ability to be dangerous offensively.
"They're a very skilled team. They have guys that can shoot, score and skate,'' Ghafari said. "And when we took segments off, they were able to capitalize.
"We have to play a full 60 (minutes) and not chase from behind if we if we want to win.''
MILLER EXCELS: Freshman defenseman Tommy Miller had the best game of his young Spartan career with three assists, three blocked shots and solid play in both zones.
Known as a solid stay-at-home defenseman, Miller had three assists coming into Thursday's game. But he directly set up two goals -- by Mitchell Lewandowski in the first period and Taro Hirose's shorthanded score in the second -- and earned the second assist Hirose's second goal in the middle period.
"He was phenomenal. He contributed on the offensive end and from a defensive perspective,'' said defensive partner Carson Gatt. "We have some good forwards who we try to get the puck to and he made a lot of good plays and it showed on the scoreboard.''
On MSU's first goal, Miller got the puck at the right point and with a maze of players in front of the net, he purposely fired the puck to the right of the goal, hoping for a good bounce.
He got it. It caromed right into the crease, where goalie Eric Shierhorn failed to deflect it out of danger. The puck bounced around the crease and Lewandowski fired it into the right corner at 6:47 for his team-leading 15th goal of the season.
"He played well. His gaps were good,'' Coach Danton Cole said of Miller, who doesn't turn 19-years-old until early March. "He stepped up and made some plays that we needed, and he kept pucks in. He was good tonight and got rewarded.''
Strangely, the Spartans defensive corps, which doesn't put up a lot of points, actually outscored the high-scoring KHL line of Patrick Khodorenko, Taro Hirose and Mitchell Lewandowski.
Miller had three assists, Zach Osburn had two assists and Butrus Ghafari had one goal for six total points. The KHL line produced five points -- Hirose had three with two goals and an assist, Lewandowski had one goal and Khodorenko chipped in with one assist.''
Gatt is MSU's highest-scoring defenseman with two goals and 11 assists for 13 points.
IN THE BIG TEN: On Friday, No. 18 Wisconsin takes to the road to face No. 1 Notre Dame in South Bend. The Badgers and Irish complete the series on Sunday afternoon at the United Center in Chicago.
No. 20 Michigan, coming off a sweep at Minnesota, plays host to No. 13 Penn State on Friday and Saturday. Ohio State has the weekend off.
