Spartans Skate to 1-1 Tie At No. 12 Notre Dame

South Bend, Ind. -- Michigan State earned a hard-fought tie on the road Saturday evening, skating to a 1-1 tie through regulation at Notre Dame. The Spartans picked up the extra point in the Big Ten standings when both Tanner Kelly and Karsen Dorwart scored in the shootout and Dylan St. Cyr made saves on two of the three shots he faced.

It was a netminders duel from the opening period, when MSU held a 19-13 edge in shots and Notre Dame countered with a 19-11 advantage in the second, with MSU needing to kill five of its nine minutes of penalties on the night. St. Cyr earned first star of the game honors, turning away a season-best 39 shots in addition to the two he made in the shootout. Counterpart Ryan Bischel made 41 saves at the other end for Notre Dame (4-2-2, 1-0-1 B1G).

Jagger Joshua gave MSU a first-period lead when he one-timed a rebound off a Karsen Dorwart shot for his fourth goal in three games. Nick Lieverman tied the score for Notre Dame late in the second with his second goal of the weekend. Through a scoreless third and overtime, the goaltenders were the story, turning aside every shot they faced to maintain the deadlock and keep their teams in it.

The Spartans return home for four straight games at Munn Ice Arena, which begin next Friday when the Spartans host Wisconsin.

STATISTICS OF NOTE

Jagger Joshua had his fourth goal over three games with his first-period strike. He tied his career best for goals in a season, matching the four he had as a sophomore.
Karsen Dorwart's sixth assist of the season came in the first period and tied him with linemate Daniel Russell for the team lead.
Dylan St. Cyr established a new season high in saves for the second straight night – he finished with 39 after a 28-save effort on Friday.
MSU has killed off 15 consecutive penalties over four-plus games dating back to the second game of the UMass-Lowell series.
Seven of the last 16 games between the teams have gone to overtime.

First Period: After last night's shutout, the Spartans were anxious to get on the board and came out looking to get pucks on net early. The Spartans were rewarded at 5:43 – Nash Nienhuis did a nice job to hold the puck to get the Spartans onsides at the offensive blue line and he passed it off to a circling Dorwart. Dorwart's shot from the right circle was saved by Bischel, but the rebound came out to the left side for Joshua, who one-timed it past the goalie for his fourth goal in three games. MSU killed off a boarding penalty against Cole Krygier, at 14:26, but on Krygier's next shift he got whistled for a major for hitting from behind, putting MSU on the extended kill that would carry over into the second period. MSU caught a break when Chayse Primeau was whistled for holding with just over a minute remaining in the period, putting the teams at 4-on-4. MSU outshot its hosts 19-13.

Second Period: The Spartans spent a considerable amount of time early in the period killing off the penalty time, but were up to the task – with the extra man advantage time, the Irish rolled out to an early 7-2 lead in shots on goal, but MSU did a good job in front of St. Cyr, who was handling the shots as they came and keeping it a one-goal game. The home team finally broke though at 15:25, when Trevor Janicke cleared the puck up to Lieverman at the left point, and his shot found its mark for a 1-1 tie.

Third Period: The number of shots went down for both teams (8-6 in favor of the Spartans), but the teams continued to play end-to-end. The Spartans continued to press for a game-winner, with Bischel coming up big on a pair of shots from Kelly and Middendorf and perhaps a bit lucky in the final minute as Miroslav Mucha set up Nicolas Müller to the right of the goalcage, but his shot was tipped high as the teams headed to the extra session.

Overtime: Each netminder was tasked with coming up big in the first 90 seconds of overtime. Tiernan Shoudy's shot from the bottom of the left circle was stopped by Bischel, and St. Cyr came up with a big stop on Landon Slaggert less than 30 seconds later. Nick Lieverman had Notre Dame's second shot in the OT period, an open look that St. Cyr smothered in front with 96 seconds remaining. Both goalies kept their teams hopes alive in that extra session, with Bischel making four saves and St. Cyr two.