Neil's Notebook: Middendorf's Offense A Welcome Addition

11/20/2021 12:34:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey

By Neil Koepke, MSUSpartans.com staff writer

EAST LANSING –Erik Middendorf has brought a much-needed touch to Michigan State's offense.

Middendorf's first three goals of the season were game winners.

On Friday night, the junior left wing added another game-winning goal.

Middendorf actually had two goals and goalie Drew DeRidder had another outstanding game with 40 saves as the Spartans edged Wisconsin, 3-2, in the Big Ten series opener in front of 5,653 fans at Munn Arena.

Middendorf and right wing Griffin Loughran combined to give MSU a 3-1 lead at 12:53 of the third period.

Loughran raced a Wisconsin defenseman into the offensive zone, wiped out a potential icing, went behind the net and stole the puck from the Badger defenseman. From the side of the net with his fee below the goal line, he shot the puck off goalie Jared Moe's right pad.

The puck caromed just outside the crease and a hard-driving Middendorf fired the puck into the net, just before getting tripped, to boost MSU's lead to two goals. But the Badgers didn't surrender.

Wisconsin scored less than two minutes later to cut the deficit to 3-2, but the Spartans survived the Badgers' late push to tie it.

But there were some anxious moments before MSU could claim victory.

DeRidder had to make a clutch glove save on Brock Caufield's point blank shot from the slot with 1:20 left after Caufield intercepted a MSU pass at the top of the right circle.

"That was huge. That was the play of the game,'' MSU coach Danton Cole said. "We turned it over a couple times and they were able to get the one. But that was one big save to keep it to 3-2 and it calmed down from there.''

Michigan State (7-5-1 overall, 2-3-0 Big Ten) will try for its second consecutive sweep and third of the season when it faces the Badgers (4-9-0, 2-5-0) in the series finale at 8 p.m. Saturday at Munn Arena.

The Spartans have won three games in a row. Wisconsin has lost four straight.

DeRidder made 40 saves Friday, including 20 in the second period. Moe also played a strong game, stopping 37 shots, including 16 in the third period.

Of course, without Middendorf's and Loughran's heroics, the Spartans don't emerge with their third-straight victory.

"I kind of know how fast Griff can be when he wants the puck and how tenacious that little guy is,'' Middendorf said. "When I saw him going that fast, I knew he was hungry to get another goal for the team and when you see him playing that hard, he creates so many opportunities.

"He threw it off the goalie's pads and luckily I was sliding in and was able to bury it.''

The Badgers were not happy with the waived off icing. They claimed that icing should have been called on the play – that defenseman Tyler Inamoto was ahead of Loughran at the dot in the left faceoff circle in the race for the puck. The linesman apparently felt that Loughran would have touched the puck first and allowed play to continue.

Middendorf, a transfer from Colorado College, scored MSU's first goal on a one-timer from the edge of the left circle off a nifty pass from Josh Nodler during a power play at 3:19 of the first period.

Middendorf now has winning goals against Miami, Ohio State, Ferris State and Wisconsin, and five goals and four assists for nine points in 13 games.

"I don't know if it was my best game. I was working hard out there and I think the message from Coach Danton is you work hard and be a good teammate,'' said the 6-foot-1, 195-pounder from Scottsdale, Arizona. "The two goals were nice. But being a plus-2 on the night was better for me and my line. It's being a plus on the ice and giving our team the best chance to win.''

Cole also likes to see players who have a scoring touch and put the puck in the net with some frequency.

"He finds that soft spot,'' the Spartans coach said of Middendorf. "And guys that can score goals kind of get to those spots when the puck is coming there, and guys that don't score goals tend to be two feet away from that.

"They don't get their forehand into those spots. It's hard to teach but you appreciate it. (Middendorf) also scores timely goals.''

Indeed, he does.

After Middendorf's early goal, the Spartans went up 2-0 at 13:33 of the second period when Jeremy Davidson scored from deep in the right circle after taking a perfect pass from Mitchell Lewandowski, who stole the puck from a Badger at the Wisconsin blue line and headed into the offensive zone.

The visitors finally solved DeRidder in the last minute of the second period, but it took back-to-back MSU penalties to set it up. The Spartans were called for too-many-men on the ice at 17:22 and then Christian Krygier took a tripping penalty at 18:03, giving the Badgers a 5-on-3 power play for 1 minute and 19 seconds.

Michigan State killed off the 5-on-3 but five seconds after the first penalty ended, Wisconsin's Jack Gorniak found himself wide open in front and he took a pass from Brock Caufield and fired the puck past DeRidder at 19:27.

DeRidder made a big save on Carson Bantle two minutes into the third period and stopped Gorniak at 11:31 to keep his team up by a goal.

That set the stage for Loughran's race to wipe out an icing, win a puck battle behind the net and set up Middendorf for a 3-1 lead.

A tough MSU turnover opened the door for Wisconsin to get back in the game. Defenseman Dennis Cesana stepped on the puck coming out of the MSU zone, fell to the ice. Bantle swooped in at the MSU blue line, got possession and sped into the right circle and fired the puck past DeRidder with 5:46 left.

DeRidder made a couple of quality saves late and MSU held to extend its winning streak to three games.

"We knew that Wisconsin comes hard and they put a lot of pressure on you in the three zones,'' Cole said. "That's predictable but sometimes it's hard to deal with. They forced us into some errors, and obviously the one at the end of the third period, we would have liked to clean up a little better.

"Overall, the guys battled hard, defended well, but I think offensively there are some areas that we can do some things a lot better. I didn't think we worked hard enough away from the puck offensively.

"Our sticks were outstanding. I don't know how many pure blocks we had but I know stick on puck was very good, and it saved us in a lot of situations. And when it didn't, Drew was there. We relied on that part of our game too much and tomorrow we'll have to be better with the puck and working better without it to get it.''

The Spartans were 1-for-3 on the power play with seven shots on goal. Wisconsin went 1-for-5 with eight shots on net.

The Nodler-Middendorf-Loughran line had eight shots on goal. Middendorf led with four, Nodler had three and Loughran one

Cole had strong praise for the 5-foot-6, 145-pound Loughran, who now has three goals and five assists for eight points in 13 games.

"He's a warrior. He goes in and lays on the body, comes out with the puck and made a nice play out front,'' Cole said. "It was a heck of a play all around. That's what he gives. He plays hard and has a pretty good offensive mind.

"He's fun to watch and coaches like having guys like that around.''

SAVE OF THE NIGHT: With a minute left in the third period, Wisconsin's Brock Caufield suddenly had the puck on his stick and, for a few seconds, nobody between him and MSU goalie Drew DeRidder.

Caufield took a few strides toward the net and let go with a wrist shot toward the right corner. DeRidder reached out to make a glove safe – and save the game for the Spartans.

"I just saw him coming down (the ice) and he had a clear shot,'' DeRidder said. "I was pretty sure he was going to shoot, and I kind of baited him by giving him a little on my glove side, hoping he'd shot there.

"He ended up shooting there. So, it worked out for me. I knew that was a big save at a big time in the game.''

DeRidder, now 5-3-1 this season liked the way his defense played despite Wisconsin putting 40 shots on goal, and he was excited to see MSU score an early goal and take a 1-0 lead.

"That was awesome to get the first goal of the game,'' he said. "We haven't gotten many goals that early in past games. To come up with that is big. It gives our team a lot of energy. It helps me out and gives me confidence knowing that the team is scoring goals. And they've got my back like I've got theirs.''

MSU blocked 22 shots led by three each from defensemen Aiden Gallacher and Christian Krygier and two each from defensemen Cole Krygier and Dennis Cesana and forwards Kyle Haskins, Nicolas Muller, Erik Middendorf and Tanner Kelly.

"That needs to one of our strengths and it has been, and not just from our defensemen, it's our forwards and everyone,'' DeRidder said. "We get a lot of blocked shots on the penalty kill but even on 5-on-5 and on some rushes tonight. We got a lot of sticks on pucks and that's huge to eliminate those chances.''

A lot of Wisconsin shots were from the perimeter and MSU was very good in clearing pucks out of danger from the good scoring areas and had some good-puck luck, too.

DeRidder and sophomore Pierce Charleson split the first three series of the season – against Air Force, Miami and UMass Lowell – but DeRidder has started six of the last seven games and four in a row.

In those four starts, he's allowed 3, 0, 3 and 2 goals.

He's played 545 minutes in nine games, has a 2.09 goals-against average and a .940 saves percentage, which ranks 7^th in the nation.

"To get our shot total up to 40 tonight is unbelievable but there are still areas was can work on and ways we can help Drew out,'' MSU junior forward Erik Middendorf said. "It's the same story every weekend with Drew. It feels like we're always talking about how good he's playing.

"We need to put together 60 minutes so Drew can sit on his heels a little bit and not have to make all those crazy saves at the end of the game.''

Friday's game was the fifth this season in which DeRidder has made 35 saves or more. He's also done it against Air Force (36 saves), Miami (35), UMass Lowell (37), Ohio State (41).

SWEEP OR SPLIT: Michigan State has now won the first game of a series four times and has completed the sweep two times with Saturday's game with Wisconsin the path to its third sweep this season.

The Spartans posted back-to-back wins over Miami (3-1, 2-1) and Ferris State (2-0, 4-3). They beat Ohio State (2-1) in the series opener but failed to get the sweep, losing (5-1) in the second game.

Erik Middendorf said his team should leave everything it has on the ice in trying to achieve a victory Saturday because the team has next weekend off.

"It doesn't matter how much legs we have left because we're not doing anything next week,'' he said. "That's the message now. It'll be a long week thinking about it so we want to think about the win and the sweep, get four (wins) in a row and have a good Thanksgiving break.''

There are areas the Spartans can improve on to put themselves in better position to sweep the Badgers.

"The biggest thing is our forwards need to get more open in the neutral zone for our defensemen,'' Middendorf said. "Our defensemen have to get on their heels and cut back and stuff when (the opposition) is forechecking hard, so we need to get more open in the neutral zone and come back for that.

"And not turning over as many pucks in the D-zone. That led to a lot of chances at the end of the game. We turned the puck over on a neutral zone play and Drew had to make an incredible save.

"We know that wasn't our best game. We're excited for the challenge and excited to try to get the sweep in front of the home crowd.''

IN THE BIG TEN: Notre Dame and Penn State on Friday pulled off big upsets on the road. The No. 14/15 Irish knocked off No. 1/1 Michigan, 3-2 in overtime, while the Nittany Lions earned their first Big Ten win with a 5-3 victory at No. 7/7 Minnesota.

Michigan (10-3-0, 5-2-0 Big Ten) took a 2-0 lead on a late second-period goal and an early goal in the third. But the Irish (9-3-0, 3-1-0) rallied on goals by Hunter Strand at 5:22 and Ryder Rolston tied it with 6:16 left in the third period.

Notre Dame won it on a power-play goal by Rolston 3:36 into overtime. Irish goalie Ryan Bischel made 28 saves. The teams meet again Saturday at Yost Arena.

Penn State (7-5-0, 1-4-0) broke a 3-3 tie with two goals within 58 seconds early in the third period to take a 5-3 lead and then shut down the Gophers' offense the rest of the way. Christian Sarlo scored on a power-play at 2:10 and Chase McLane added PSU's fifth goal at 3:08.

Freshman Matthew Knies had a goal and two assists for the Gophers (7-6-0, 4-3-0).

The Nittany Lions are 13-4-1 in the last 18 games against Minnesota. The teams close out the series on Saturday at Mariucci Arena.

No. 17 Ohio State (7-3-0, 4-2-0) has this weekend off.