Neil' Notebook: Defense's Offense Steps Up Friday

By Neil Koepke, MSUSpartans.com staff writer

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Michigan State senior defenseman Cole Krygier scored his third goal of the season late in the second period

Spartan senior defenseman Christian Krygier, Cole's twin brother, scored his first goal of the year early in the third period.

The goals wiped out MSU's two-goal deficit.

But the Krygier brothers' offensive onslaught wasn't enough to lift the Spartans past Penn State on Friday night.

With the teams deadlocked, 2-2, midway through the third period, the Nittany Lions capitalized on a power play and the Spartans failed to convert on their power-play opportunity a few minutes later.

Connor MacEachern's power-play goal at 8:30 of the final period gave Penn State a 3-2 lead.

And after killing off a MSU power play from 11:51 to 13:51, the Nittany Lions held on for a 4-2 victory in the Big Ten series opener in front of 6,008 fans at Pegula Arena.

"We gave up one (power-play goal) but overall, with three or four shorthanded situations, it wasn't too bad,'' MSU coach Danton Cole said. "But we needed a block on that one. That's the game. On our side, we got pucks on net (on our power play) but we couldn't get ours to get through.

"That ended up being the difference in the game. We did some things well and we'll have to be a little better tomorrow.''

The Spartans (8-6-1 overall, 3-4-0-0-0-0 Big Ten), who saw their four-game win streak come to an end, will try to earn a split in the series when they face the Nittany Lions (10-6-0, 2-5-0-0-0-0) at 5 p.m. Saturday at Pegula Arena.

Both goaltenders had solid games. MSU's Drew DeRidder made several standout saves among his 35 stops, while Oskar Autio of Penn State, named the game's No. 1 star, made his share of clutch saves. He stopped 30 shots.

"Drew was good. That's what we expect out of him,'' Cole said. "But their guy was good, too. Drew has been solid. He gives us chance every night.''

Penn State, which has won three games in a row and four of its last five, opened the scoring at 9:56 of the first period. Christian Sarlo found himself open in the slot, took a backhand pass from the right circle by Xander Lamppa and fired the puck past DeRidder.

The Nittany Lions went up 2-0 at 15:31 of the second period on freshman Ryan Kirwan's fifth goal of the season. DeRidder made a save on defenseman Clayton Phillips' shot from the left circle but the rebound bounced into slot and Kirwan was there and he backhanded the puck into the net.

The Spartans finally solved Autio with 2:06 left in the second period with each team short one man.

Cole Krygier joined the rush into the PSU zone and when Jeremy Davidson's shot was stopped by Autio and the puck caromed into the right circle, Krygier was right there to fire it into the net and cut MSU's deficit to 2-1.

It didn't take long for Michigan State to tie it and again, it was a Krygier that provided some offensive flair.

Christian Krygier made a nice play to stickhandle around some defenders and scored from close in at 2:33 of the third period for his first goal the season.

Suddenly, it was anybody's game.

"They're jumping into the play, especially Cole,'' the Spartans' coach said of his twin defensemen. "It seems like Cole is finding himself alone in the slot two or three times a game. He's finding an opening. And our forwards are doing a nice job finding them.''

Unfortunately for MSU, the 2-2 tie lasted only six minutes.

Penn State took advantage of an interference penalty to MSU forward Nicolas Muller at 6:52. The Spartans skated off all but 22 seconds of the Nittany Lions power play.

MacEachern, a junior center, fired the puck from the top of the left circle and it found its way past DeRidder at 8:30.

Muller didn't like the penalty call and neither did his coach.

"We had a good view from the bench and I didn't agree with the call, but that's hockey,'' Cole said. "You have to kill it off and we darn near did. We were seconds from finishing the PK.

"It was one of those unfortunate things. But we got a power play back and we had some chances but we couldn't get one to sneak through.''

The Spartans went on a power play at 11:51 when forward Shane McLane was sent off for tripping. Spartan freshman Jesse Tucker had a good scoring chance from the right circle, and MSU moved the puck around really well and got it to the net to set up a good puck battle. But Autio made two big saves and pounced on a loose puck.

After skating off a slashing penalty on Josh Nodler, MSU pressed for the tying goal in the last two minutes with DeRidder off for a sixth attacker. But the Nittany Lions survived, adding an empty-net goal by Tyler Gratton with less than a second remaining.

Cole liked the way his team reacted after going down 3-2 with 11 minutes left. The Spartans didn't get down. They worked hard to create scoring chances and had some good looks, but Autio and his teammates were solid defensively and claimed the series opener.

"We reacted the right way on the bench. We had some chances after their (power-play) goal,'' Cole said. "We gathered ourselves all right. We pushed, we forechecked and got some pucks to the net. That's what you have to do. We just ran out of time.''

STREAKS EXTENDED: Left wing Mitchell Lewandowski and defenseman Cole Krygier continued point streaks Friday in MSU's 4-2 loss.

Lewandowski assisted on Christian Krygier's third-period goal and now has at least one point in all 10 games that he's played in. Lewandowski was in the lineup for the Spartans' first five games, then missed five in a row with an injury, and he's played in his team's last five. Lewandowski leads the team in scoring with 15 points – five goals and 10 assists.

Meanwhile, Cole Krygier extended his streak to four games when he scored MSU's first goal late in the second period.

During this stretch, which started with the second game of the Ferris State series on Nov. 13, the senior defenseman has two goals and three assists for five points.

Cole Krygier is the Spartans' second-highest scoring defenseman with three goals and six points in 15 games. Senior Dennis Cesana assisted on Cole Krygier's goal and leads MSU blueliners with seven points – three goals and four assists.

Three defensemen are within a point of Cole Krygier with five points apiece.

Cole's brother, Christian, scored his first goal of the season on Friday and now has one goal and four assists. Sophomore Nash Nienhaus (0-5) and freshman David Gucciardi (1-4) also have five points.

IN THE BIG TEN: In the showdown between the first- and second-place teams in the conference, No. 11/12-ranked Minnesota stunned No. 3/2 Michigan by scoring three unanswered goals in the first period, increasing its lead to 5-0 in the second and cruising to a 5-1 victory on Friday at Yost Arena in Ann Arbor.

Freshman Chad Lucius scored two goals and senior forwards Sammy Walker and Ben Meyers each had two assists for the Gophers (10-7-0 overall, 6-3-0-0-1-0 Big Ten), who took over first place with 19 points, two ahead of Michigan (12-5-0, 5-4-0-0-2-0).

U-M sophomore goalie Erik Portillo gave up five goals on 22 shots before being replaced by sophomore Noah West to start the third period. Minnesota and Michigan complete the series on Saturday in Ann Arbor.

In the other Big Ten contest, No. 18 Ohio State defeated No. 8/8 Notre Dame, 4-2, in Notre Dame, Indiana. The Buckeyes (9-4-0, 5-2-0-0-0-0) fell behind 1-0 but scored two goals in the second half of the first period and added two more in the second half of the second period for a 4-1 lead.

The Irish (10-4-0, 4-3-0-2-0-0) made it 4-2 with 1:18 left in the game. OSU freshman goalie Jakub Dobes made 34 saves. In suffering only his second loss, Notre Dame graduate transfer goaltender Matthew Galajda made 24 saves. The teams meet again Saturday at Notre Dame.

In an exhibition game on Thursday, Wisconsin suffered a 4-0 defeat at the hands of the U.S. Under-18 team in Madison.

NO. 1 UPSET: Minnesota Duluth took over the No. 1 ranking this week in both major polls – the U.S. College Hockey Online poll and the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll.

But the Bulldogs (10-4-1 overall) stumbled in their first game as the No. 1 team, losing 5-4 at Northern Michigan on Friday in the first game of a non-conference series.

UMD took a 2-1 lead in the first period but NMU scored two unanswered goals in the second period to go up 3-2. The Bulldogs tied it early in the third before the Wildcats scored two late goals to win it.

Minnesota Duluth played without its No. 1 goalie, Ryan Fanti, who was ruled out due to Covid-19 protocols. Sophomore goalie Zach Stejskal is already sidelined, battling cancer. So, No. 3 goalie Ben Patt, a senior, made his first career start on Friday. He made 30 saves, including 16 in the second period.

UMD and Northern Michigan play again on Saturday in Marquette.

In a game involving top 10 teams, No. 5/6 St. Cloud State routed No. 7/7 North Dakota, 8-1, on Friday in St. Cloud, Minnesota.

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Players Mentioned

Dennis Cesana

Jeremy Davidson

Drew DeRidder

David Gucciardi

Christian Krygier

Cole Krygier

Mitchell Lewandowski

Josh Nodler

Jesse Tucker

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