MSU Drops Big Ten Opener at No. 12 Notre Dame

South Bend, Ind. -- Michigan State suffered a 5-0 loss to No. 12 Notre Dame on the road on Friday in the Big Ten opener for both teams.

The Spartans were down 2-0 after the first period on a pair of odd-man rushes and 3-0 after two, matching its largest deficit of the season. However, there was no third-period magic to be found on Friday night for MSU, which was outshot in the third period by a 14-8 margin and 33-30 edge overall in the game.

Ryder Rolston and Chayse Primeau each had a goal and two assists for Notre Dame (4-2-1 overall, 1-0 Big Ten) while Ryan Bischel had 30 saves.

Dylan St. Cyr made a season-best 28 saves on the night for MSU (4-3-0, 0-1 B1G) as MSU failed to score for the first time this season.

The two teams complete the series on Saturday at 6 pm at the Compton Family Ice Arena.

STATISTICS OF NOTE

MSU did not allow a power play goal to the Irish in two chances, extending its streak to 11 consecutive successful kills over three-plus games dating back to the second game of the UMass-Lowell series. The Spartans killed off a major penalty in the third.
MSU was 0-for-4 on the power play after scoring four power play goals in seven chances in its last game against LIU.
The Spartans had their sixth game in seven tries with 30+ shots on net this season. Notre Dame had an opponent season-high 33 shots on net.
The 5-0 score is the largest margin between the two teams since a 5-0 Notre Dame win on March 27, 2009. The last 15 meetings between the teams had not been settled by more than two goals, and that stretch featured six overtime contests.
Dylan St. Cyr made a season-best 28 saves.

First Period: The first blow came from Notre Dame, sprung on a 3-on-2 break with Ryder Rolston carrying the puck up the right side. He managed to knock a stick away from the defender before sliding a cross-slot pass to Justin Janicke on the left side, and he had plenty of net to deposit his second of the season. MSU looked to have an equalizer at the 10-minute mark, but rung the post. In the waning minutes of the period, Rolston broke into the zone, got around the defense, and had an open look at St. Cyr, and beat him over his glove-hand shoulder to double the Irish lead at 17:35. MSU outshot the Irish 11-10 in the period, but still had the 2-0 deficit heading to the locker room.

Second Period: Notre Dame came out and put another on the board early in the second, with Nick Lieverman threading the puck through traffic from the high slot to make it a 3-0 ballgame at 2:27 and matching MSU's largest deficit of the season. The Spartans kept to their game and had an 11-9 edge in shots, but could not solve Bischel.

Third Period: The Irish netted another one on the rush early in the third, with Chayse Primeau picking up the score on the right doorstep off a backdoor feed from Rolston, the third point of the night for both players. A five-minute major penalty against Jagger Joshua gave Notre Dame an extended man advantage, but the Spartans limited the Irish to just two shots on net as they extinguished the power play. As Jagger was released from the box, a nice pass across the goalmouth from Ryan Helliwell allowed Hunter Strand to tap home a goal to make it a 5-0 score. MSU had just eight shots compared to 11 in each of the first two frames, while the Irish poured on a game-best 14.