Neil’s Notebook: Spartans Break The Ice On The New Season, Skate to 1-1 Draw

Michigan State vs. Arizona State, Nov. 19

Neil’s Notebook: Spartans Break The Ice On The New Season, Skate to 1-1 Draw

11/20/2020 9:30:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey

By Neil Koepke
MSUSpartans.com staff writer

EAST LANSING – There was a lot to like about the way Michigan State played in their 2020-21 season opener against Arizona State on Thursday night at Munn Arena.

The Spartans got excellent goaltending from junior Drew DeRidder, their penalty-killer units defended very well and, for the most part, MSU played a strong defensive game.

But a defensive zone breakdown and a tough bounce in front of the net kept the new-look Spartans from celebrating a victory.

Michigan State was just over four minutes away from a likely 1-0 win when the Sun Devils' Chris Grando tied the game with a quick shot from the slot and into the right corner of the net at 15:46 of the third period.

The 3-on-3 overtime didn't result in many quality scoring chances as MSU had two shots on goal to one for ASU.

Grando's late goal matched the Spartans' only goal, scored 1:43 into the second period by junior defenseman Christian Krygier, the first of his Spartan career.

"Overall, we did pretty well. We were playing a team that had a couple of games under their belt and it's our first game with a lot of freshmen trying to figure things out,'' MSU coach Danton Cole said.

"I wish we could have found a way to finish it because you get to learn the same lessons and you get a win out of it. Overall, way more positives and lots of stuff to build on.''

The Spartans (0-0-1) and Sun Devils (0-2-1) will close out the non-conference series at 6 p.m. Friday (Big Ten Network Plus) at Munn Arena. ASU opened its season last weekend at Michigan and got swept, 8-1 and 3-0.

Michigan State skated off three Arizona State power plays – two in the first period and one early in the third. The Spartans failed to convert on three power-plays, two in the second period and one in the third.

DeRidder made seven saves in each of the first three periods, and with one in OT, finished with 22. ASU freshman goalie Cole Brady, who's 6-feet-and 180 pounds, had a busy first period with 13 stops followed by five in the second, five in the third and two in overtime to end up with 25 saves.

The Spartans missed a great opportunity to go up 2-0 during a third-period power play which started with seven minutes left. Senior left wing Mitchell Lewandowski, from the top of the left circle, fed a perfect, soft pass to an open Charlie Combs in front and the grad-transfer from Bemidji State had two good chances.

Combs' first shot was blocked by ASU goalie Brady but the rebound came right back to Combs, who fired again but the puck hit the right skate of defenseman Jacob Wilson and was cleared out of danger.

"Offensively, we needed to do a better job of funneling and getting pucks to the net,'' Cole said. "When I look (at the video), I'll see that we didn't have a lot of chances in the 10-20-foot area in front of the net.

"We had some pucks in there but we didn't bear down on them. We have to do better and zip it down there and take advantage of it.''

Arizona State's best period was the third as it pressed to tie it and had 19 shots attempted to 13 for MSU. DeRidder made seven saves, his team blocked seven shots and it looked like the Spartans might hold on to shut out the Sun Devils.

But ASU kept working, won a puck battle along the right boards and created as scoring chance that resulted in the tying goal.

"Defensively, I think we were pretty good. We had a little mix-up and got beat off the wall on the game-tying goal and our backside help wasn't very good,'' Cole said. "Penalty killing was good overall. We got twisted a couple times. It's our first time and our switches weren't real quick but we made up for it with really good sticks.

"We let them dictate (the play on power plays) a little too much. Overall, it was good. We blocked shots on the backside and had good clears. We did a solid job for the first game.''

Michigan State took a 1-0 lead on Krygier's goal from the left circle at 1:43 of the second period. It was set up by center Josh Nodler with the other assist going to Combs, his first point as a Spartan.

"I saw Nodler running around the net and we work on that a lot in practice - hitting the defenseman coming down,'' Krygier said. "I just followed my route and Nods gave it to me, I made contact and it went in.''

Krygier one-timed the pass into the lower left corner for his first goal in his 63^rd game for the Spartans.

"It's a pretty big relief. It's not something I think about because defending is my first job but scoring goals is nice. For a guy like me, I don't score much. I don't think I've scored a goal in the last three or four years so it's definitely like a 'finally.'

"You remember doing this as a kid and obviously scoring is fun. When the puck went in the corner (of the net), I was pumped. It was exciting.''

Krygier has not scored in the last three seasons – two with the Spartans and his last in junior hockey in 2017-18 with the Lincoln Stars of the U.S. Hockey League. His last goal came in 2016-17 when he scored two for Lincoln in 50 games.

Nodler, a sophomore, credited Combs with a good pass behind the net and Krygier for getting open and finishing.

"I got the puck off the wall (on the right wing), moved it down to Combs and he made a beautiful pass back and I took it around the net and saw Krygier walking down the middle,'' he said. "I gave it to him and me made a nice shot and put it in.''

That gave the Spartans a lead they maintained for the next 34 minutes, but they came up short in holding off the Sun Devils.

"The game of hockey is funny that way. Some bounces go your way and some don't, and they got one and capitalized,'' Nodler said. "It's disappointing but you can't let that get in your head. Tonight is over and the guys played a good game, there's stuff we have to work on and be ready for Friday.''

Christian Krygier liked what he saw from his team on opening night in a different setting with no fans allowed at Munn Arena because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The only noise in the building was the piped-in music, so the players had to create their own atmosphere.

"I thought our team played really well. I thought we outplayed about 75% of the game,'' Krygier said. "The majority of the time we were in control.''

DERIDDER SHARP: Junior goalie Drew DeRidder had a strong game with a several clutch saves among his 22 stops. He made a couple of key saves in the first period and made a big stop late in the second period with the Sun Devils buzzing around the net and MSU holding a 1-0 lead. He was solid in the third.

"He did really well. He bailed us out when he needed to,'' MSU coach Danton Cole said. "He probably wants one more save but that (goal) was not on him. He played a strong game. He got us whistles when we needed them, he took care of rebounds and was pretty tidy.''

As a freshman, DeRidder split the goaltending duties with then-junior John Lethemon, playing in 17 games to 20 for Lethemon. Last year, Lethemon won the starting spot early in the season and played in 33 games, while DeRidder started only four.

This year, DeRidder is competing for playing time with freshman Pierce Charleson, a 6-foot-2, 186-pounder form Aurora, Ontario, who spent the last two seasons playing for the Brooks Bandits of the Alberta Junior Hockey League.

FIRST-GAME PAIRINGS: One of MSU's best forward line combinations on Thursday was the unit of junior Josh Nodler at center between graduate-transfer Charlie Combs on left wing and freshman A.J. Hodges on right wing. The trio accounted for six shots on goal and set up MSU's only goal.

Freshman Kristof Papp centered left wing Mitchell Lewandowski and right wing Nicolas Muller. The other two lines had senior co-captain Tommy Apap at center with sophomore Jagger Joshua on right wing and senior Brody Stevens on the right side, and junior Mitchell Mattson in the middle between junior left wing Adam Goodsir and freshman Kyle Haskins on right wing.

Gino Esteves, a senior, dressed as the extra forward.

On defense, junior Dennis Cesana teamed with fellow junior Cole Krygier, senior Tommy Miller was matched up with freshman Nash Nienhuis and junior Christian Krygier was paired with freshman Aiden Gallacher.

As the game went on, the pairings changed during different situations, and the two freshmen didn't get as much ice time as the four veterans.

MSU's top power play featured Josh Nodler, Charlie Combs and A.J. Hodges down low and Cesana at the right point and Mitchell Lewandowski on the left.

Penalty-killing forwards included Tommy Apap and Brody Stevens, Apap and Jagger Joshua when Stevens was in the penalty box and Mitchell Lewandowski and Mitchell Mattson.

IN THE BIG TEN: No. 11/11 Minnesota cruised past No. 10/10 Penn State on Thursday, 4-1, in Minneapolis in the season openers for both teams. The Gophers took a 2-0 lead in the second period and carried a 2-1 edge into the third period and added two goals.

No. 6/6 Michigan trailed No. 14/13 Wisconsin 1-0 late in the second period but struck for three goals in 5 minutes and 19 seconds and went on to a 5-2 victory in Madison.

The Gophers and Nittany Lions close out their series at 4 p.m. Friday (Big Ten Network), and the Wolverines and Badgers meet again at 7 p.m. (Fox Sports Detroit).