Photo by: Rey Del Rio/MSU Athletic Communications
Neil’s Notebook: Secondary Scoring Lifts Spartans Past No. 11/10 Penn State
1/13/2019 9:18:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
By Neil Koepke
MSUSpartans.com staff writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Michigan State has been desperately seeking secondary scoring for most of this season.
On Saturday night, the Spartans got it in a big way.
And here's what else they got: An exciting and rewarding 6-4 victory over No. 11/10 Penn State in front of 6,199 raucous fans at Pegula Arena, and a much-needed split of the Big Ten series.
Players not known for their scoring – Brennan Sanford, Cody Milan, Logan Lambdin, Tommy Apap, Sam Saliba and Adam Goodsir – made major contributions in the Spartans' first victory of 2019. They combined or 11 points – four goals and seven assists – and eight shots on goal.
Sanford had two goals in the third period and an assist in the first. Milan chipped in with three assists, two in the opening period and one in the third. Lambdin had a goal in the first period and an assist in the third, Apap scored late in the first period and Saliba and Goodsir each picked up an assist in the first 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, MSU's KHL line showed its usual brilliance but didn't have to carry their team. Taro Hirose had a goal and an assist – his 100th and 101st career points as a Spartan – and Mitchell Lewandowski scored one goal and Patrick Khodorenko assisted on Hirose's goal.
There were plenty of big plays and heroes for the Spartans, who led 3-1 after the first period, were tied 3-3 after two, and outscored Penn State 3-1 in the final 20 minutes, including an empty-net goal by Sanford.
Junior goalie John Lethemon was another huge factor for the Spartans (7-12-3 overall, 3-7-2-2 Big Ten). He faced a lot of shots and pressure from the highest-scoring offense in the nation and looked calm and confident in making 40 saves.
MSU coach Danton Cole said his team built on the good parts of Friday's 4-2 loss to the Nittany Lions (13-7-2, 5-6-1-1) and things were even better on Saturday.
"We played a pretty good game on Friday. In the third period, even though we didn't score, there was a good push, we had good possession and got pucks to the net,'' he said. "Tonight, I liked our whole 60 minutes and loved our battle. We played pretty fast and weren't out of our league. We were moving the puck and getting pucks to the net.''
And, of course, Cole loved seeing offensive production from players not named Khodorenko, Hirose and Lewandowski.
"The game is easier to play when you're not counting on that one line to play, obviously,'' he said. The (KHL line) is such a threat when they're out there, and they get so much attention (from the opposition) that we need some help.
"It's not that the other guys aren't trying. You can squeeze them and squeeze them. We talked last night about those guys going through the process and putting puck on net. We showed them clips from yesterday where we didn't stop in front on the net.
"And guys stopped and battled harder tonight. Penn State does a great job at that. They get pucks to the net and battle hard around the net. So, take a lesson from them.''
The Spartans had 37 shots on goal, the most since getting 45 against Northern Michigan in a 4-2 victory in the season opener on Oct. 12.
But without stellar goaltending by Lethemon, those shots might not have mattered.
"I thought Lethemon really battled in net. They're not an easy team to play against,'' Cole said. "They throw a lot of rubber at you, there's a lot of plays from behind the net out into the slot, so you just have to grind. They got a couple (goals) back but he kept battling.
"I thought our whole D-corps did a real good job. Playing three freshmen under pressure is good experience for them in a game like this and in a building like this.''
Michigan State took a 3-1 lead in the first period on goals by Lambdin at 7:25, on a third rebound during a wild scramble in the crease, and two in the last minute by Apap and Hirose. Apap scored from another scramble around the net at 19:08 and Hirose took a perfect pass from Khodorenko and rifled a shot past Jones with 5.2 seconds left in the period.
But MSU's lead disappeared in the second period on two goals by Penn State center Chase Berger. The first came off a loose puck 10 feet out in the slot at 4:42, and the second on a power play at 17:32. He one-timed the puck past Lethemon from the right circle to tie it.
But Lambdin and Sanford teamed up to give the Spartans a 4-3 lead just 1:34 in the third period. Lambdin carried over center and in the neutral zone, dropped it behind him to Sanford, who drove to the net and used a PSU defenseman as a screen and fired the puck through Jones' legs.
The Spartans went up 5-3 on Lewandowski's power-play goal from the right side of the net at 6:43. Milan got the puck in the left circle from Hirose sent a perfect pass into the slot to an open Lewandowski, who turned and slid it into the right corner of the net.
Penn State capitalized on another power play to make it one-goal game at 13:28 as Nate Sucese's one-timer from the right circle found its way into the net to set up a late challenge for Michigan State.
The crowd came alive, the Nittany Lions pulled their goalie and applied great pressure, moving the puck around in the Spartans zone and getting off dangerous shots. But Lethemon was sharp and poised and his teammates blocked shots and kept PSU attackers to the outside as much as possible.
The last blocked shot turned into the goal that ended Penn State's hopes. Sanford blocked a shot from the point, the puck bounced to the left boards and he chased after it, sliding the puck out of the zone. He tracked it down, stumbled for a second or so, and got the puck on his stick and hit the empty net at 19:36.
"We were super fired up on the bench and wanted to win this game anyway we could,'' Khodorenko said. "Sanford had two goals and that was awesome, a lot of guys were buzzing and getting pucks on net. We wanted that W and it showed in the last 10 minutes. John (Lethemon) played really well. He was seeing pucks and getting his body in front of it.''
Despite losing a two-goal lead, Hirose said the Spartans didn't get down during the second intermission and felt upbeat about the third period.
"We're a confident group and we're used to being down a couple goals, so we weren't happy but were comfortable being tied,'' he said. "There was confidence that we could get it done.''
The victory was MSU's second on the road in Big Ten play. The Spartans pulled out a 4-2 win at Minnesota on Nov. 24 and tied Michigan 2-2 and won a shootout in Ann Arbor on Dec. 1. They lost two games at Wisconsin, Dec. 7-8. Road trips remaining include two-game series visits to Notre Dame (Jan. 25-26) and Ohio State (March 1-2) and a single game at Michigan (Feb. 8).
The Spartans' best weekend this season was the 5-2 and 4-3 sweep at Cornell, Oct. 26-27.
"You have to win games on the road. It's tough because you don't get the matchups you want and have the momentum and they have the crowd,'' Cole said. "But we handled it well this weekend. I'll say this about this bunch: They don't get rattled on the bench.''
BEST NIGHT FOR SANFORD: Senior left wing Brennan Sanford had his most productive night as a Spartan and arguably his best game and made a big impact in MSU's 6-4 victory with two goals and one assist, and he was solid defensively with three blocked shots.
Sanford, a 6-foot-1, 208-pound left wing from East Lansing, had his first two-goal game and first three-point night.
After picking up an assist on linemate Tommy Apap's goal in the last minute of the first period, which gave MSU a 2-1 lead, Sanford broke a 3-3 tie with his first goal of the game at 1:34 of the third period.
Logan Lambdin carried the puck past center and into neutral zone and went to his backhand to drop the puck to Sanford coming down the right wing.
"I had a little bit of speed coming up the ice and was calling for Logan (Lambdin) to drop the puck and he did, and I came down the right boards, cut to the middle and used their defender as a screen,'' Sanford said. "I put it on net to see what would happen. I think it squeaked by (goalie Peyton Jones) and went five-hole.''
In the final minute, the Nittany Lions swarmed into the MSU zone, with Jones pulled or a sixth attacker. Apap blocked a shot and ended up scoring into an empty net to seal the win for the Spartans.
"I believe I did have a block during that play and their defender fumbled it and I had a chance to chip it out of the zone,'' he said. "I had some adrenaline going and some speed and kept going after it. I had a stumble but stayed upright.
"I wanted to make sure I kept my balance and once I had it, I was confident the puck was going in.''
Sanford, a strong defensive forward and key penalty killer, doubled his point totals Saturday. He now has three goals and three assists or six points in 22 games.
Saturday was the second time Sanford has been in the spotlight this season.
After MSU and Michigan played to a 2-2 tie and a scoreless 3-on-3 overtime to determine which team earns the extra point in the Big Ten on Dec. 1, Sanford made a great move to score the winning goal in the shootout. The first three shooters for each team failed to score but Sanford's goal touched off a wild celebration and made for a happy ending at Yost Arena.
On Saturday, Sanford was one of several Spartans who played well and helped Michigan State earn a road split with the Nittany Lions.
"The whole team played awesome and it was great to come out of the weekend with a win in a hostile environment,'' Sanford said. "Johnny (Lethemon) played unbelievable and congratulations to Taro Hirose for his 100th point.
"I thought our line was all about playing the game the right way and we got rewarded tonight. All four lines contributed, and that's a good sign for our team.''
LETHEMON STANDS TALL: Goalie John Lethemon had one of his best games of the season on Saturday with a 40-save performance which helped the Spartans upend Penn State at Pegula Arena, one of the toughest spots to play in the Big Ten.
Lethemon, a junior, was especially sharp late in the third period as the Spartans battled to protect leads of 5-3 and 5-4. Penn State, which went into the weekend averaging 4.9 goals per game, fired shot after shot at Lethemon in the final minutes. But they couldn't get the puck past him and MSU celebrated a big victory.
"I was confident and the guys in front of me did a great job,'' Lethemon said. "They got some good chances but I was ready for them. Even though they got four goals, as a goalie you want to keep that down. But you have to have that next-shot mentality.
"It was kind of the way this game flowed. Sometimes you just have to make those one or two timely saves, and I thought I was able to do that.''
Lethemon's 40 saves is one save away from his career high of 41. That came last season at Penn State in a 2-2 tie and eventual shootout win by MSU on Nov. 25, 2017.
He also made 40 saves this season in a 3-0 loss at Wisconsin on Dec. 8.
"We knew Penn State would be throwing pucks toward the net and crashing the net in the third period, and that's what they did,'' Lethemon said. "As a team, I thought we handled it well.''
MILESTONE FOR HIROSE: Taro Hirose was pleased to reach and pass the 100-point mark with a goal and an assist on Saturday, but he was more excited about his team's 6-4 victory over Penn State and leaving Happy Valley with a series split.
"It's a nice accomplishment but I prefer getting the win for sure,'' he said. "We had a lot of guys really going. Sandy, Apap and Logan (Lambdin) got some greasy goals, the kind of goals we need. Not all goals can be pretty. We had a lot of guys have really good games and that's good to see.''
Hirose has 29 goals and 72 assists for 101 points in 92 career games at MSU.
He got his 100th point when he gave MSU a 3-1 lead with 5.2 seconds left in the first, capping off a classic KHL line rush with Patrick Khodorenko, who raced down the right wing with time winding down. He spotted Hirose streaking down the middle, heard him call for the puck and put it right on his stick.
Hirose took a stride and launched a shot that rocketed-past PSU goalie Peyton Jones.
"That's shot is something I've been working on so it's nice to see it go in,'' said Hirose, MSU's and the nation's leading scorer with 11 goals and 24 assists for 35 points in 22 games.
Khodorenko was really impressed with Hirose's shot.
"I was trying to buy time going down the ice because I knew guys had to change, so I was controlling the puck and their defenseman wasn't coming at me so I pulled up and Tars was yelling for it,'' he said. "That was a great shot. It was a nice shot, ala (Auston) Matthews (of the Toronto Maple Leafs).''
Hirose got his 101st point with an assist in the third period – the second assist on Mitchell Lewandowski's power-play goal that gave MSU a 5-3 lead at 6:43.
PSU'S TOP LINE HELD IN CHECK: Michigan State has one of the best lines in college hockey - the KHL unit - and so does Penn State. The Nittany Lions are a balanced team but it's led by the high-scoring line of sophomore Evan Barratt at center with sophomore Alex Limoges on left wing and junior Liam Folkes on the right side.
The trio skated into the series against the Spartans with a combined 82 points. Barratt had 13 goals and 16 assists for 29 points. Limoges had 11 goals and 19 assists for 30 points and Folkes had 23 points - 10 goals and 13 assists. Barratt missed three games while playing for the U.S. Junior National Team in the World Junior Championships in British Columbia.
Penn State scored eight goals against MSU in a 4-2 win and 6-4 loss, but the Barratt-Limoges-Folkes line wasn't much of a factor in both games. The line was held to two points – a fluky goal by Folkes, assisted by Barratt, on Friday. It came on a shot from along the goal line that glanced off a Spartan player's skate.
They accounted for six shots on goal on Friday and eight on Saturday, with Barratt getting four. But Penn State's top shooters were forward Nate Sucese (6) and defensemen Kevin Kerr (4) and Kris Myllari (5).
Since PSU elected to match the KHL line with 6-foot-7 Nikita Pavlychev and 6-2 Sam Sternschein and 5-8 Blake Gober all weekend, it was MSU's second, third and fourth lines that got go up against Barratt's line.
"Since they stuck with the Pavlychev against Khodo's line, we tried to get that line on the ice a lot and keep (the Barratt line) off,'' Coach Danton Cole said.
"Barratt's come back from the World Juniors and that's a tough weekend for those guys. Physically, it's not a problem but it's such a mental grind being over there for three weeks and dealing with so much pressure.''
Said Patrick Khodorenko, the center on the KHL line: "I thought our team shut them down very well. We didn't play against them but our other lines did a great job against them. They didn't get a lot of options.''
Two of the best lines in college hockey will be on display in a little over a month when Penn State plays the Spartans at Munn Arena on Feb. 15-16.
UP NEXT: The Spartans are back home next weekend against Minnesota, which has won three games in a row, including a sweep of Notre Dame on the road. Michigan State and the Gophers meet at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday and 5 p.m. on Sunday at Munn Arena.
The two teams split a series over Thanksgiving weekend in Minneapolis. The Gophers won the opener, 7-2, and the Spartans rallied to capture the second game, 4-2.
IN THE BIG TEN: No. 4/3 Ohio State rebounded from Friday's 2-1 loss to Michigan and earned a split of their series with a 4-2 victory on Saturday at Value City Arena in Columbus. The Buckeyes fell behind 2-1 midway through the third period but tied it 28 second later on Wyatt Ege's goal and then took the lead on Quinn Preston's goal at 13:03. Ronnie Hein scored into an empty net to seal the win with 24 seconds left.
Michigan's top scorer, Josh Norris, sat out for the third straight game. No reason was given for his absence.
Minnesota won its third-straight game and earned its first sweep of a Big Ten series with a 2-1 victory over No. 9 Notre Dame on Saturday in Notre Dame, Ind. The Gophers won it on freshman Blake McLaughlin's goal with eight seconds left in the game. Minnesota rolled to a 5-1 victory in the series opener. The Irish have lost three straight.
The U.S. Under-18 team skated past Wisconsin, 6-2 in an exhibition game on Saturday in Madison.
This is the way the Big Ten standings look heading into next weekend:
1. Ohio State, 23 points, 6-3-3-2 conference record
2. Minnesota, 21 points, 6-3-3-0
3. Michigan, 18 points, 4-5-4-2
4. Penn State, 17 points, 5-6-1-1
5. Wisconsin, 16 points, 4-3-3-1
6. Notre Dame, 15 points, 5-6-0-0
7. Michigan State, 13 points, 3-7-2-2
Next weekend, Ohio State visits Penn State and Wisconsin plays Notre Dame on Friday in Madison, and on Sunday at the United Center in Chicago. Michigan has the weekend off.
MSUSpartans.com staff writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Michigan State has been desperately seeking secondary scoring for most of this season.
On Saturday night, the Spartans got it in a big way.
And here's what else they got: An exciting and rewarding 6-4 victory over No. 11/10 Penn State in front of 6,199 raucous fans at Pegula Arena, and a much-needed split of the Big Ten series.
Players not known for their scoring – Brennan Sanford, Cody Milan, Logan Lambdin, Tommy Apap, Sam Saliba and Adam Goodsir – made major contributions in the Spartans' first victory of 2019. They combined or 11 points – four goals and seven assists – and eight shots on goal.
Sanford had two goals in the third period and an assist in the first. Milan chipped in with three assists, two in the opening period and one in the third. Lambdin had a goal in the first period and an assist in the third, Apap scored late in the first period and Saliba and Goodsir each picked up an assist in the first 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, MSU's KHL line showed its usual brilliance but didn't have to carry their team. Taro Hirose had a goal and an assist – his 100th and 101st career points as a Spartan – and Mitchell Lewandowski scored one goal and Patrick Khodorenko assisted on Hirose's goal.
There were plenty of big plays and heroes for the Spartans, who led 3-1 after the first period, were tied 3-3 after two, and outscored Penn State 3-1 in the final 20 minutes, including an empty-net goal by Sanford.
Junior goalie John Lethemon was another huge factor for the Spartans (7-12-3 overall, 3-7-2-2 Big Ten). He faced a lot of shots and pressure from the highest-scoring offense in the nation and looked calm and confident in making 40 saves.
MSU coach Danton Cole said his team built on the good parts of Friday's 4-2 loss to the Nittany Lions (13-7-2, 5-6-1-1) and things were even better on Saturday.
"We played a pretty good game on Friday. In the third period, even though we didn't score, there was a good push, we had good possession and got pucks to the net,'' he said. "Tonight, I liked our whole 60 minutes and loved our battle. We played pretty fast and weren't out of our league. We were moving the puck and getting pucks to the net.''
And, of course, Cole loved seeing offensive production from players not named Khodorenko, Hirose and Lewandowski.
"The game is easier to play when you're not counting on that one line to play, obviously,'' he said. The (KHL line) is such a threat when they're out there, and they get so much attention (from the opposition) that we need some help.
"It's not that the other guys aren't trying. You can squeeze them and squeeze them. We talked last night about those guys going through the process and putting puck on net. We showed them clips from yesterday where we didn't stop in front on the net.
"And guys stopped and battled harder tonight. Penn State does a great job at that. They get pucks to the net and battle hard around the net. So, take a lesson from them.''
The Spartans had 37 shots on goal, the most since getting 45 against Northern Michigan in a 4-2 victory in the season opener on Oct. 12.
But without stellar goaltending by Lethemon, those shots might not have mattered.
"I thought Lethemon really battled in net. They're not an easy team to play against,'' Cole said. "They throw a lot of rubber at you, there's a lot of plays from behind the net out into the slot, so you just have to grind. They got a couple (goals) back but he kept battling.
"I thought our whole D-corps did a real good job. Playing three freshmen under pressure is good experience for them in a game like this and in a building like this.''
Michigan State took a 3-1 lead in the first period on goals by Lambdin at 7:25, on a third rebound during a wild scramble in the crease, and two in the last minute by Apap and Hirose. Apap scored from another scramble around the net at 19:08 and Hirose took a perfect pass from Khodorenko and rifled a shot past Jones with 5.2 seconds left in the period.
But MSU's lead disappeared in the second period on two goals by Penn State center Chase Berger. The first came off a loose puck 10 feet out in the slot at 4:42, and the second on a power play at 17:32. He one-timed the puck past Lethemon from the right circle to tie it.
But Lambdin and Sanford teamed up to give the Spartans a 4-3 lead just 1:34 in the third period. Lambdin carried over center and in the neutral zone, dropped it behind him to Sanford, who drove to the net and used a PSU defenseman as a screen and fired the puck through Jones' legs.
The Spartans went up 5-3 on Lewandowski's power-play goal from the right side of the net at 6:43. Milan got the puck in the left circle from Hirose sent a perfect pass into the slot to an open Lewandowski, who turned and slid it into the right corner of the net.
Penn State capitalized on another power play to make it one-goal game at 13:28 as Nate Sucese's one-timer from the right circle found its way into the net to set up a late challenge for Michigan State.
The crowd came alive, the Nittany Lions pulled their goalie and applied great pressure, moving the puck around in the Spartans zone and getting off dangerous shots. But Lethemon was sharp and poised and his teammates blocked shots and kept PSU attackers to the outside as much as possible.
The last blocked shot turned into the goal that ended Penn State's hopes. Sanford blocked a shot from the point, the puck bounced to the left boards and he chased after it, sliding the puck out of the zone. He tracked it down, stumbled for a second or so, and got the puck on his stick and hit the empty net at 19:36.
"We were super fired up on the bench and wanted to win this game anyway we could,'' Khodorenko said. "Sanford had two goals and that was awesome, a lot of guys were buzzing and getting pucks on net. We wanted that W and it showed in the last 10 minutes. John (Lethemon) played really well. He was seeing pucks and getting his body in front of it.''
Despite losing a two-goal lead, Hirose said the Spartans didn't get down during the second intermission and felt upbeat about the third period.
"We're a confident group and we're used to being down a couple goals, so we weren't happy but were comfortable being tied,'' he said. "There was confidence that we could get it done.''
The victory was MSU's second on the road in Big Ten play. The Spartans pulled out a 4-2 win at Minnesota on Nov. 24 and tied Michigan 2-2 and won a shootout in Ann Arbor on Dec. 1. They lost two games at Wisconsin, Dec. 7-8. Road trips remaining include two-game series visits to Notre Dame (Jan. 25-26) and Ohio State (March 1-2) and a single game at Michigan (Feb. 8).
The Spartans' best weekend this season was the 5-2 and 4-3 sweep at Cornell, Oct. 26-27.
"You have to win games on the road. It's tough because you don't get the matchups you want and have the momentum and they have the crowd,'' Cole said. "But we handled it well this weekend. I'll say this about this bunch: They don't get rattled on the bench.''
BEST NIGHT FOR SANFORD: Senior left wing Brennan Sanford had his most productive night as a Spartan and arguably his best game and made a big impact in MSU's 6-4 victory with two goals and one assist, and he was solid defensively with three blocked shots.
Sanford, a 6-foot-1, 208-pound left wing from East Lansing, had his first two-goal game and first three-point night.
After picking up an assist on linemate Tommy Apap's goal in the last minute of the first period, which gave MSU a 2-1 lead, Sanford broke a 3-3 tie with his first goal of the game at 1:34 of the third period.
Logan Lambdin carried the puck past center and into neutral zone and went to his backhand to drop the puck to Sanford coming down the right wing.
"I had a little bit of speed coming up the ice and was calling for Logan (Lambdin) to drop the puck and he did, and I came down the right boards, cut to the middle and used their defender as a screen,'' Sanford said. "I put it on net to see what would happen. I think it squeaked by (goalie Peyton Jones) and went five-hole.''
In the final minute, the Nittany Lions swarmed into the MSU zone, with Jones pulled or a sixth attacker. Apap blocked a shot and ended up scoring into an empty net to seal the win for the Spartans.
"I believe I did have a block during that play and their defender fumbled it and I had a chance to chip it out of the zone,'' he said. "I had some adrenaline going and some speed and kept going after it. I had a stumble but stayed upright.
"I wanted to make sure I kept my balance and once I had it, I was confident the puck was going in.''
Sanford, a strong defensive forward and key penalty killer, doubled his point totals Saturday. He now has three goals and three assists or six points in 22 games.
Saturday was the second time Sanford has been in the spotlight this season.
After MSU and Michigan played to a 2-2 tie and a scoreless 3-on-3 overtime to determine which team earns the extra point in the Big Ten on Dec. 1, Sanford made a great move to score the winning goal in the shootout. The first three shooters for each team failed to score but Sanford's goal touched off a wild celebration and made for a happy ending at Yost Arena.
On Saturday, Sanford was one of several Spartans who played well and helped Michigan State earn a road split with the Nittany Lions.
"The whole team played awesome and it was great to come out of the weekend with a win in a hostile environment,'' Sanford said. "Johnny (Lethemon) played unbelievable and congratulations to Taro Hirose for his 100th point.
"I thought our line was all about playing the game the right way and we got rewarded tonight. All four lines contributed, and that's a good sign for our team.''
LETHEMON STANDS TALL: Goalie John Lethemon had one of his best games of the season on Saturday with a 40-save performance which helped the Spartans upend Penn State at Pegula Arena, one of the toughest spots to play in the Big Ten.
Lethemon, a junior, was especially sharp late in the third period as the Spartans battled to protect leads of 5-3 and 5-4. Penn State, which went into the weekend averaging 4.9 goals per game, fired shot after shot at Lethemon in the final minutes. But they couldn't get the puck past him and MSU celebrated a big victory.
"I was confident and the guys in front of me did a great job,'' Lethemon said. "They got some good chances but I was ready for them. Even though they got four goals, as a goalie you want to keep that down. But you have to have that next-shot mentality.
"It was kind of the way this game flowed. Sometimes you just have to make those one or two timely saves, and I thought I was able to do that.''
Lethemon's 40 saves is one save away from his career high of 41. That came last season at Penn State in a 2-2 tie and eventual shootout win by MSU on Nov. 25, 2017.
He also made 40 saves this season in a 3-0 loss at Wisconsin on Dec. 8.
"We knew Penn State would be throwing pucks toward the net and crashing the net in the third period, and that's what they did,'' Lethemon said. "As a team, I thought we handled it well.''
MILESTONE FOR HIROSE: Taro Hirose was pleased to reach and pass the 100-point mark with a goal and an assist on Saturday, but he was more excited about his team's 6-4 victory over Penn State and leaving Happy Valley with a series split.
"It's a nice accomplishment but I prefer getting the win for sure,'' he said. "We had a lot of guys really going. Sandy, Apap and Logan (Lambdin) got some greasy goals, the kind of goals we need. Not all goals can be pretty. We had a lot of guys have really good games and that's good to see.''
Hirose has 29 goals and 72 assists for 101 points in 92 career games at MSU.
He got his 100th point when he gave MSU a 3-1 lead with 5.2 seconds left in the first, capping off a classic KHL line rush with Patrick Khodorenko, who raced down the right wing with time winding down. He spotted Hirose streaking down the middle, heard him call for the puck and put it right on his stick.
Hirose took a stride and launched a shot that rocketed-past PSU goalie Peyton Jones.
"That's shot is something I've been working on so it's nice to see it go in,'' said Hirose, MSU's and the nation's leading scorer with 11 goals and 24 assists for 35 points in 22 games.
Khodorenko was really impressed with Hirose's shot.
"I was trying to buy time going down the ice because I knew guys had to change, so I was controlling the puck and their defenseman wasn't coming at me so I pulled up and Tars was yelling for it,'' he said. "That was a great shot. It was a nice shot, ala (Auston) Matthews (of the Toronto Maple Leafs).''
Hirose got his 101st point with an assist in the third period – the second assist on Mitchell Lewandowski's power-play goal that gave MSU a 5-3 lead at 6:43.
PSU'S TOP LINE HELD IN CHECK: Michigan State has one of the best lines in college hockey - the KHL unit - and so does Penn State. The Nittany Lions are a balanced team but it's led by the high-scoring line of sophomore Evan Barratt at center with sophomore Alex Limoges on left wing and junior Liam Folkes on the right side.
The trio skated into the series against the Spartans with a combined 82 points. Barratt had 13 goals and 16 assists for 29 points. Limoges had 11 goals and 19 assists for 30 points and Folkes had 23 points - 10 goals and 13 assists. Barratt missed three games while playing for the U.S. Junior National Team in the World Junior Championships in British Columbia.
Penn State scored eight goals against MSU in a 4-2 win and 6-4 loss, but the Barratt-Limoges-Folkes line wasn't much of a factor in both games. The line was held to two points – a fluky goal by Folkes, assisted by Barratt, on Friday. It came on a shot from along the goal line that glanced off a Spartan player's skate.
They accounted for six shots on goal on Friday and eight on Saturday, with Barratt getting four. But Penn State's top shooters were forward Nate Sucese (6) and defensemen Kevin Kerr (4) and Kris Myllari (5).
Since PSU elected to match the KHL line with 6-foot-7 Nikita Pavlychev and 6-2 Sam Sternschein and 5-8 Blake Gober all weekend, it was MSU's second, third and fourth lines that got go up against Barratt's line.
"Since they stuck with the Pavlychev against Khodo's line, we tried to get that line on the ice a lot and keep (the Barratt line) off,'' Coach Danton Cole said.
"Barratt's come back from the World Juniors and that's a tough weekend for those guys. Physically, it's not a problem but it's such a mental grind being over there for three weeks and dealing with so much pressure.''
Said Patrick Khodorenko, the center on the KHL line: "I thought our team shut them down very well. We didn't play against them but our other lines did a great job against them. They didn't get a lot of options.''
Two of the best lines in college hockey will be on display in a little over a month when Penn State plays the Spartans at Munn Arena on Feb. 15-16.
UP NEXT: The Spartans are back home next weekend against Minnesota, which has won three games in a row, including a sweep of Notre Dame on the road. Michigan State and the Gophers meet at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday and 5 p.m. on Sunday at Munn Arena.
The two teams split a series over Thanksgiving weekend in Minneapolis. The Gophers won the opener, 7-2, and the Spartans rallied to capture the second game, 4-2.
IN THE BIG TEN: No. 4/3 Ohio State rebounded from Friday's 2-1 loss to Michigan and earned a split of their series with a 4-2 victory on Saturday at Value City Arena in Columbus. The Buckeyes fell behind 2-1 midway through the third period but tied it 28 second later on Wyatt Ege's goal and then took the lead on Quinn Preston's goal at 13:03. Ronnie Hein scored into an empty net to seal the win with 24 seconds left.
Michigan's top scorer, Josh Norris, sat out for the third straight game. No reason was given for his absence.
Minnesota won its third-straight game and earned its first sweep of a Big Ten series with a 2-1 victory over No. 9 Notre Dame on Saturday in Notre Dame, Ind. The Gophers won it on freshman Blake McLaughlin's goal with eight seconds left in the game. Minnesota rolled to a 5-1 victory in the series opener. The Irish have lost three straight.
The U.S. Under-18 team skated past Wisconsin, 6-2 in an exhibition game on Saturday in Madison.
This is the way the Big Ten standings look heading into next weekend:
1. Ohio State, 23 points, 6-3-3-2 conference record
2. Minnesota, 21 points, 6-3-3-0
3. Michigan, 18 points, 4-5-4-2
4. Penn State, 17 points, 5-6-1-1
5. Wisconsin, 16 points, 4-3-3-1
6. Notre Dame, 15 points, 5-6-0-0
7. Michigan State, 13 points, 3-7-2-2
Next weekend, Ohio State visits Penn State and Wisconsin plays Notre Dame on Friday in Madison, and on Sunday at the United Center in Chicago. Michigan has the weekend off.
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