Photo by: Rey Del Rio/MSU Athletic Communications
Neil’s Notebook: Special Teams Power Spartans in Victory Over Minnesota
1/20/2019 8:34:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
By Neil Koepke
MSUSpartans.com staff writer
EAST LANSING – One of the reasons for Michigan State's highly entertaining 5-3 victory over Minnesota on Saturday night at Munn Arena was its effective power play.
The Spartans clicked for three goals with a manpower advantage in four opportunities.
Another key factor in MSU's second straight Big Ten win was its outstanding penalty killing. The Spartans skated off five of six Gophers power plays and didn't give up a goal until the last one, late in the third period.
Of course, there were a few other bright spots, including another brilliant game by Michigan State's top line of Patrick Khodorenko, Taro Hirose and Mitchell Lewandowski. The KHL unit combined for three goals and four assists and 18 shots on goal.
In addition, junior goaltender John Lethemon had another strong game, making 35 saves against a highly skilled set of Minnesota forwards. He stopped 15 shots in the hectic third period.
"I thought our guys were intense and played a really good hockey game. I'm proud of them,'' MSU coach Danton Cole said. "If we play hard like that, we're not a bad team.
"The Big Ten is all playoff games. That's what it feels like. Now, we have to come back and do it again.''
The Spartans (8-12-3, 4-7-2-2 Big Ten) will seek their first conference sweep of the season when they face the Gophers (9-9-4, 6-4-3-0) in the series finale at 5 p.m. Sunday at Munn Arena.
"In the playoffs, power plays and penalty kill are huge, and tonight that was a big difference,'' Cole said.
Michigan State took a 2-1 lead in the first period, boosted it to 3-1 in the second and went up 4-1 midway through the third period before the Gophers rallied with two late goals to make for a tense last four minutes.
But defenseman Jerad Rosburg scored into an empty net from his own zone with 12 seconds left to seal MSU's victory in the Big Ten series opener in front of 5,784 fans. Lethemon even earned an assist on Rosburg's goal, his first career point.
The KHL line and defenseman Dennis Cesana led MSU's offensive surge. Lewandowski scored two goals, including one on the power play, Khodorenko chipped in with a power-play goal and an assist and Hirose had three assists to increase his nation-leading point total to 38 – 11 goals and 27 assists.
Hirose made two perfect passes to Lewandowski for re-direction goals, one in the first period to tie the game 1-1, and the other late in the second period to give his team a 3-1 lead.
Cesana had three assists on goals by Lewandowski, Khodorenko and Cody Milan on a 5-on-3 power play midway through the third period.
Other than a few turnovers and a rash of penalties - late in the second period and three in the final 20 minutes - the Spartans were aggressive, worked hard, blocked 17 shots and showed poise late in the game with the Gophers pressing for the tying goal.
"You don't want to give them a chance to come back but that's how the game went,'' Rosburg said. "But we did a good job not panicking and we calmed down and finished the game.
"We had a hard time of staying out of the box in the third period, but our penalty killing did a good job. We did a good job of keep them to the outside and making them turn it over in the middle, and at the end we were able to get the puck out of our zone multiple times.''
Hirose had his game at high level with great passes, steals, and even made an impact killing penalties with a blocked shot that turned into a breakaway in the second period. Hirose's moves continue to have teammates, coaches and fans shaking their heads.
"It's fun to watch. Practicing with him every day is special,'' said Lewandowski, who has three goals in his last two games. "I just try to pick up on everything he does and learn from him. He does some stuff other guys can't do. He makes it look easy and smooth.
"He gets three points and it looks like a casual night for him. It's awesome to see and I'm happy to be part of it.''
Hirose, who has 24 points in his last 14 games, said he's feeling good about his game and is taking advantage of time and space.
"The last couple games, skating-wise, I've felt better being able to make plays, and tonight was sort of the same thing,'' he said. "They're more of a skilled team and not a big hitting team, so there's more time and space out there.''
Hirose has the ability to respond to fast plays or slow set-ups, like on the power play. He's patient and has an impressive touch to make the right pass. In the first period Saturday with MSU on the power play, he made a great pass from along the right circle into the slot to Lewandowski, who reached out and re-directed the puck into the left corner, past Minnesota goalie Mat Robson (37 saves) to tie the game 1-1.
He made another perfect pass in the second period from just inside the blue to Lewandowski on the edge of the crease on the left for another nifty re-direction goal.
"That's a characteristic of great players. He's got that sixth sense where guys are going to be - not just on our team but on their team,'' Cole said. "At times, you can see it from the bench but he also makes plays that you can't see from the bench.
"My biggest compliment for him is how he competes and now how he leads by example. He's getting a little more vocal and adding leadership.''
MSU's first power-play goal in the opening period by Lewandowski came 20 seconds after the man advantage started. The Spartans were even better on the their second one – by Khodorenko. It took seven seconds.
Milan's 5-on-3 power-play goal midway through the third period came 46 seconds after Minnesota was assessed two minor penalties at 8:50.
"We were moving the puck, keeping it simple and running plays to the net off the faceoff,'' Hirose said. "We weren't looking for the perfect play as much as just getting pucks to the net.
"You saw (Milan) go there in front and just jamming the puck in the net after working hard for the puck.''
Lewandowski said his re-direction off Hirose's pass in the first period was a play they work on in practice.
"That's probably the first time it's ever gone in the year-and-a-half that I've been here,'' he said with a laugh. "I just put my stick out there and hope for the best.''
Lewandowski said the power play was successful Saturday because of good puck movement and not losing possession on faceoffs.
"We didn't have to go back and recover pucks. We were good on faceoffs and didn't have to go back and breakout and set up,'' he said. "We had quick goals because we started with the puck. The power play has struggled the last month or so. Today, we were winning battles, getting touches and the puck was going in.''
With three points for the win, Michigan State is now tied for sixth place in the Big Ten with Wisconsin with 16 points apiece. But the Badgers have played two fewer games – 11 to 13 – in Big Ten play.
The Spartans are one point in back of fifth-place Penn State and two behind third-place Notre Dame and Michigan. MSU could climb as high as in a tie for third place on Sunday with another win over Minnesota and a Wisconsin victory over Notre Dame or a Badgers-Irish tie and Wisconsin winning the 3-on-3 overtime or shootout.
THE GOPHERS' VIEW: Minnesota scored two goals that were reviewed by officials – one in the second period that was disallowed because of a crease violation and one late in the third period that counted on a breakaway by Rem Pitlick.
Minnesota coach Bob Motzko liked the second review but disagreed with the first when freshman defenseman Matt Denham's shot from the top of the right circle eluded goalie John Lethemon at 9:41 of the second period that would have tied the game, 2-2.
Instead, the goal was disallowed because Gopher forward Nathan Burke was in the crease just before the puck went in, and MSU took a 3-1 lead 5 minutes and 19 seconds later on Mitchell Lewandowski's second goal.
"When I go in and watch it, I see a good goal,'' Motzko said. "Being in this sport for a long time, how that can't be a good goal is beyond me. They said our guy clearly went in (to the crease) on his own. While he clearly didn't, there's a battle going on for him to get into the crease.
"If that's against us, I want that to be a good goal in hockey, on either rink.''
Since losing to Michigan State, 4-2, on Nov. 24, the Gophers came into Saturday's game with a 5-2-3 record in their last 10 games. Last weekend, Minnesota swept Notre Dame on the road, 5-1 and 2-1.
But Motzko didn't like what he saw from his team on Saturday.
"It's disappointing more than frustrating. I didn't like our demeanor from the start of the game,'' he said in an interview with Inforum.com. "We scored first and it actually hurt us. You don't say that too often, but then we got even lower. And we were fearful coming into the game tonight, how our demeanor was going to be.
"I hate it. We dug ourselves such a hole. We don't need any more learning lessons. But this was another lesson for our team.''
CESANA EXCELS ON PP: Freshman defenseman Dennis Cesana wasn't sure Saturday's game was his best as a Spartan despite a stellar three-assist night. But he was still pretty pleased with his play in help setting up power-play goals by Mitchell Lewandowski and Patrick Khodorenko in the first period and Cody Milan in the second.
Cesana, a 5-9, 189-pounder from Providence, also had a three-point game – a goal and two assists – against Lake Superior State in the Great Lakes Invitational in Detroit last month.
"I wouldn't say it's my best game. I feel good about this game but there are games that I'm not on the scoresheet but I feel good about because of my gaps and defensive zone play,'' he said. "I think it's about my overall game and getting used to everything and being able to do things faster and getting used to working on the power play and how the (penalty) kills work.''
With three goals and 15 assists for 18 points, Cesana is now tied for third in scoring among defenseman in the Big Ten. Michigan's Quinn Hughes leads with 22 points – three goals and 19 points.
"Elevating my overall game and getting comfortable and having confidence has really helped me,'' he said. "It's good to come out at home in the first game of a series and get some goals and feel good about ourselves going into the second game.''
Of course, Cesana benefits greatly by being the quarterback on a power play that includes Hirose, Khodorenko, Lewandowski and Milan.
"It's really fun to play with those guys. That's a heck of a line,'' he said. "It's kind of make a play and get them the puck.''
MSU coach Danton Cole continues to be impressed with the play of his highly skilled freshman defenseman.
"He's elevated his game. He was good at the start of the year and he's starting to figure out how to change the angle up top and how to find guys,'' Cole said.
LETHEMON SHARP AGAIN: Spartans goalie John Lethemon followed up his solid game in last Saturday's 6-4 victory at Penn State with another excellent outing against Minnesota in Saturday's 5-3 victory. He made 35 saves and allowed only one goal until late in the third period. He stopped 20 shots on seven Gophers' power plays.
"Our penalty kill was outstanding and Lethemon backboned us when the puck was in the crease, and guys were blocking shots,'' Coach Danton Cole said.
Lethemon made 40 saves in MSU's win at Penn State last Saturday. He's now 6-7-0 with a 3.35 goals-against average and .900 saves percentage. Saturday's victory was his first over Minnesota.
IN THE BIG TEN: First-place Ohio State completed a sweep of Penn State with a 6-4 victory over Penn State on Saturday in University Park, Pa. The Buckeyes broke a 1-1 tie in the second period with four goals and went on to hand the Nittany Lions their fourth loss in the last five games.
Dakota Joshua scored two goals while freshman forward Gustaf Westlund had a goal and two assists for OSU, which scored four power-play goals. The Nittany Lions scored two shorthanded goals.
Notre Dame and Wisconsin will complete their two-game series on Sunday night at the United Center in Chicago. The Irish rallied to edge the Badgers in the series opener, 6-4, on Friday in Madison.
Michigan was idle and returns to Big Ten play next week with a home game against Penn State on Thursday, and then the two teams meet on Saturday at Madison Square Garden in New York.
MSUSpartans.com staff writer
EAST LANSING – One of the reasons for Michigan State's highly entertaining 5-3 victory over Minnesota on Saturday night at Munn Arena was its effective power play.
The Spartans clicked for three goals with a manpower advantage in four opportunities.
Another key factor in MSU's second straight Big Ten win was its outstanding penalty killing. The Spartans skated off five of six Gophers power plays and didn't give up a goal until the last one, late in the third period.
Of course, there were a few other bright spots, including another brilliant game by Michigan State's top line of Patrick Khodorenko, Taro Hirose and Mitchell Lewandowski. The KHL unit combined for three goals and four assists and 18 shots on goal.
In addition, junior goaltender John Lethemon had another strong game, making 35 saves against a highly skilled set of Minnesota forwards. He stopped 15 shots in the hectic third period.
"I thought our guys were intense and played a really good hockey game. I'm proud of them,'' MSU coach Danton Cole said. "If we play hard like that, we're not a bad team.
"The Big Ten is all playoff games. That's what it feels like. Now, we have to come back and do it again.''
The Spartans (8-12-3, 4-7-2-2 Big Ten) will seek their first conference sweep of the season when they face the Gophers (9-9-4, 6-4-3-0) in the series finale at 5 p.m. Sunday at Munn Arena.
"In the playoffs, power plays and penalty kill are huge, and tonight that was a big difference,'' Cole said.
Michigan State took a 2-1 lead in the first period, boosted it to 3-1 in the second and went up 4-1 midway through the third period before the Gophers rallied with two late goals to make for a tense last four minutes.
But defenseman Jerad Rosburg scored into an empty net from his own zone with 12 seconds left to seal MSU's victory in the Big Ten series opener in front of 5,784 fans. Lethemon even earned an assist on Rosburg's goal, his first career point.
The KHL line and defenseman Dennis Cesana led MSU's offensive surge. Lewandowski scored two goals, including one on the power play, Khodorenko chipped in with a power-play goal and an assist and Hirose had three assists to increase his nation-leading point total to 38 – 11 goals and 27 assists.
Hirose made two perfect passes to Lewandowski for re-direction goals, one in the first period to tie the game 1-1, and the other late in the second period to give his team a 3-1 lead.
Cesana had three assists on goals by Lewandowski, Khodorenko and Cody Milan on a 5-on-3 power play midway through the third period.
Other than a few turnovers and a rash of penalties - late in the second period and three in the final 20 minutes - the Spartans were aggressive, worked hard, blocked 17 shots and showed poise late in the game with the Gophers pressing for the tying goal.
"You don't want to give them a chance to come back but that's how the game went,'' Rosburg said. "But we did a good job not panicking and we calmed down and finished the game.
"We had a hard time of staying out of the box in the third period, but our penalty killing did a good job. We did a good job of keep them to the outside and making them turn it over in the middle, and at the end we were able to get the puck out of our zone multiple times.''
Hirose had his game at high level with great passes, steals, and even made an impact killing penalties with a blocked shot that turned into a breakaway in the second period. Hirose's moves continue to have teammates, coaches and fans shaking their heads.
"It's fun to watch. Practicing with him every day is special,'' said Lewandowski, who has three goals in his last two games. "I just try to pick up on everything he does and learn from him. He does some stuff other guys can't do. He makes it look easy and smooth.
"He gets three points and it looks like a casual night for him. It's awesome to see and I'm happy to be part of it.''
Hirose, who has 24 points in his last 14 games, said he's feeling good about his game and is taking advantage of time and space.
"The last couple games, skating-wise, I've felt better being able to make plays, and tonight was sort of the same thing,'' he said. "They're more of a skilled team and not a big hitting team, so there's more time and space out there.''
Hirose has the ability to respond to fast plays or slow set-ups, like on the power play. He's patient and has an impressive touch to make the right pass. In the first period Saturday with MSU on the power play, he made a great pass from along the right circle into the slot to Lewandowski, who reached out and re-directed the puck into the left corner, past Minnesota goalie Mat Robson (37 saves) to tie the game 1-1.
He made another perfect pass in the second period from just inside the blue to Lewandowski on the edge of the crease on the left for another nifty re-direction goal.
"That's a characteristic of great players. He's got that sixth sense where guys are going to be - not just on our team but on their team,'' Cole said. "At times, you can see it from the bench but he also makes plays that you can't see from the bench.
"My biggest compliment for him is how he competes and now how he leads by example. He's getting a little more vocal and adding leadership.''
MSU's first power-play goal in the opening period by Lewandowski came 20 seconds after the man advantage started. The Spartans were even better on the their second one – by Khodorenko. It took seven seconds.
Milan's 5-on-3 power-play goal midway through the third period came 46 seconds after Minnesota was assessed two minor penalties at 8:50.
"We were moving the puck, keeping it simple and running plays to the net off the faceoff,'' Hirose said. "We weren't looking for the perfect play as much as just getting pucks to the net.
"You saw (Milan) go there in front and just jamming the puck in the net after working hard for the puck.''
Lewandowski said his re-direction off Hirose's pass in the first period was a play they work on in practice.
"That's probably the first time it's ever gone in the year-and-a-half that I've been here,'' he said with a laugh. "I just put my stick out there and hope for the best.''
Lewandowski said the power play was successful Saturday because of good puck movement and not losing possession on faceoffs.
"We didn't have to go back and recover pucks. We were good on faceoffs and didn't have to go back and breakout and set up,'' he said. "We had quick goals because we started with the puck. The power play has struggled the last month or so. Today, we were winning battles, getting touches and the puck was going in.''
With three points for the win, Michigan State is now tied for sixth place in the Big Ten with Wisconsin with 16 points apiece. But the Badgers have played two fewer games – 11 to 13 – in Big Ten play.
The Spartans are one point in back of fifth-place Penn State and two behind third-place Notre Dame and Michigan. MSU could climb as high as in a tie for third place on Sunday with another win over Minnesota and a Wisconsin victory over Notre Dame or a Badgers-Irish tie and Wisconsin winning the 3-on-3 overtime or shootout.
THE GOPHERS' VIEW: Minnesota scored two goals that were reviewed by officials – one in the second period that was disallowed because of a crease violation and one late in the third period that counted on a breakaway by Rem Pitlick.
Minnesota coach Bob Motzko liked the second review but disagreed with the first when freshman defenseman Matt Denham's shot from the top of the right circle eluded goalie John Lethemon at 9:41 of the second period that would have tied the game, 2-2.
Instead, the goal was disallowed because Gopher forward Nathan Burke was in the crease just before the puck went in, and MSU took a 3-1 lead 5 minutes and 19 seconds later on Mitchell Lewandowski's second goal.
"When I go in and watch it, I see a good goal,'' Motzko said. "Being in this sport for a long time, how that can't be a good goal is beyond me. They said our guy clearly went in (to the crease) on his own. While he clearly didn't, there's a battle going on for him to get into the crease.
"If that's against us, I want that to be a good goal in hockey, on either rink.''
Since losing to Michigan State, 4-2, on Nov. 24, the Gophers came into Saturday's game with a 5-2-3 record in their last 10 games. Last weekend, Minnesota swept Notre Dame on the road, 5-1 and 2-1.
But Motzko didn't like what he saw from his team on Saturday.
"It's disappointing more than frustrating. I didn't like our demeanor from the start of the game,'' he said in an interview with Inforum.com. "We scored first and it actually hurt us. You don't say that too often, but then we got even lower. And we were fearful coming into the game tonight, how our demeanor was going to be.
"I hate it. We dug ourselves such a hole. We don't need any more learning lessons. But this was another lesson for our team.''
CESANA EXCELS ON PP: Freshman defenseman Dennis Cesana wasn't sure Saturday's game was his best as a Spartan despite a stellar three-assist night. But he was still pretty pleased with his play in help setting up power-play goals by Mitchell Lewandowski and Patrick Khodorenko in the first period and Cody Milan in the second.
Cesana, a 5-9, 189-pounder from Providence, also had a three-point game – a goal and two assists – against Lake Superior State in the Great Lakes Invitational in Detroit last month.
"I wouldn't say it's my best game. I feel good about this game but there are games that I'm not on the scoresheet but I feel good about because of my gaps and defensive zone play,'' he said. "I think it's about my overall game and getting used to everything and being able to do things faster and getting used to working on the power play and how the (penalty) kills work.''
With three goals and 15 assists for 18 points, Cesana is now tied for third in scoring among defenseman in the Big Ten. Michigan's Quinn Hughes leads with 22 points – three goals and 19 points.
"Elevating my overall game and getting comfortable and having confidence has really helped me,'' he said. "It's good to come out at home in the first game of a series and get some goals and feel good about ourselves going into the second game.''
Of course, Cesana benefits greatly by being the quarterback on a power play that includes Hirose, Khodorenko, Lewandowski and Milan.
"It's really fun to play with those guys. That's a heck of a line,'' he said. "It's kind of make a play and get them the puck.''
MSU coach Danton Cole continues to be impressed with the play of his highly skilled freshman defenseman.
"He's elevated his game. He was good at the start of the year and he's starting to figure out how to change the angle up top and how to find guys,'' Cole said.
LETHEMON SHARP AGAIN: Spartans goalie John Lethemon followed up his solid game in last Saturday's 6-4 victory at Penn State with another excellent outing against Minnesota in Saturday's 5-3 victory. He made 35 saves and allowed only one goal until late in the third period. He stopped 20 shots on seven Gophers' power plays.
"Our penalty kill was outstanding and Lethemon backboned us when the puck was in the crease, and guys were blocking shots,'' Coach Danton Cole said.
Lethemon made 40 saves in MSU's win at Penn State last Saturday. He's now 6-7-0 with a 3.35 goals-against average and .900 saves percentage. Saturday's victory was his first over Minnesota.
IN THE BIG TEN: First-place Ohio State completed a sweep of Penn State with a 6-4 victory over Penn State on Saturday in University Park, Pa. The Buckeyes broke a 1-1 tie in the second period with four goals and went on to hand the Nittany Lions their fourth loss in the last five games.
Dakota Joshua scored two goals while freshman forward Gustaf Westlund had a goal and two assists for OSU, which scored four power-play goals. The Nittany Lions scored two shorthanded goals.
Notre Dame and Wisconsin will complete their two-game series on Sunday night at the United Center in Chicago. The Irish rallied to edge the Badgers in the series opener, 6-4, on Friday in Madison.
Michigan was idle and returns to Big Ten play next week with a home game against Penn State on Thursday, and then the two teams meet on Saturday at Madison Square Garden in New York.
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