Spartans Drop 6-4 Decision at No. 3 BC

Chestnut Hill, Mass. – No. 8/7 Michigan State dropped a 6-4 decision to No. 3/3 Boston College on the road on Thursday night in Boston.

The Spartans (5-2-0) had a three-game winning streak snapped with the loss. MSU got a pair of goals from Karsen Dorwart and a goal and an assist from junior Red Savage, while goaltender Trey Augustine made 30 saves in his first loss of the season.

MSU fell behind 2-0 early in the game but battled back with a pair of special teams goals by Karsen Dorwart in the first period to enter the first intermission tied 2-2. MSU took a lead on a Jeremy Davidson goal early in the second, but BC battled back with two more in the balance of the frame, and then scored two more in the third to go up 6-3 before Savage scored late for the 6-4 setback.

Oskar Jellvik had a pair of goals for Boston College (4-1), while Ryan Leonard had a goal and an assist and Gabe Perrault had two assists. Jacob Fowler made 21 saves for the Eagles.

The teams will meet in the series finale on Friday at 7 pm.

STATISTICS OF NOTE

Karsen Dorwart's shorthanded goal in the first period was the first of his career, and he added a power-play marker for his first two-goal night of the season. He has a point in each of MSU's last six games after being held off the scoresheet in the opener.
Red Savage had a goal and an assist. It is his fifth multiple-point game in seven chances.
Jeremy Davidson scored his first goal of the season in the second period to go with his three assists.
Isaac Howard had his second two-assist game in the last three MSU contests. He has points in each of the last five games.
MSU has now scored three shorthanded goals, all in the last two games. The Spartans had two shorthanded tallies in all of 2022-23, and both were scored by defenseman Cole Krygier.
Boston College's six goals ties the most the Spartans have surrendered this season.
MSU's penalty kill was 6-of-7 on the night and on the season is at .861 (31-of-36). The power play scored once on five chances, and is6-of-24 on the year (.250). Both teams scored shorthanded and on the power play in the game.
BC has now won four straight games in the series, all by two-goal margins.

First Period: The two teams came out with a high-paced effort, putting a combined seven shots on the board during the opening three minutes. Trey Augustine made a pair of point-blank stops in that stretch, and BC goalie Jacob Fowler stopped an open look by Daniel Russell. The Eagles got a power play chance five minutes into the period on an interference call against Russell in the neutral zone, but the Spartan PK neutralized the BC attack, not allowing a shot on goal in the two-minute kill. A two-on-one chance led to the first goal of the game at 7:37, when Colby Ambrosio gathered a loose puck in the neutral zone and streaked up the right side; he held the puck before sliding it across the hash marks to Oskar Kellvik for the sophomore's fourth goal of the season. Just before the halfway mark of the period, Gabe Perrault had the puck on the right half-wall and threw the puck into the low slot for Ryan Leonard, who was camped out to Augustine's left to tap home the pass. MSU took another penalty less than 30 seconds after the second BC goal, and the Eagles were once again aggressive – but two blocked shots by Matt Basgall and a pair of Augustine saves later, Nash Nienhuis snapped the puck off the goal line to Red Savage, who sprung Karsen Dorwart out of the zone. With a defender on his hip and another on his stick, Dorwart carried the pair into the circle with him and managed a wrist shot that went five-hole on Fowler for his third of the season. BC took a too many men penalty with just under three minutes remaining, and halfway through the man advantage, Dorwart tied it up with his second of the game. Isaac Howard kept the puck in the zone and got it in to Russell at the hash marks, and he tapped it to Dorwart for the power play goal, beating Fowler high stick-side. BC outshot the Spartans by a 17-6 margin in the opening frame.

Second Period: The teams traded power-play chances (as well as matching five-minute majors for facemasking) in the opening minutes of the middle period. MSU took its first lead of the game at 7:28, when Nicolas Muller held the puck in the right circle and dished to the top of the slot for Jeremy Davidson, who got his first of the season. BC took a penalty just seconds later, and then countered MSU's shorthanded marker from the first period with one of its own by Jellvik, who popped it home on the breakaway for his second of the night. With four minutes to play in the period, Gucciardi was sent off for holding – giving the Eagles the late power play after three straight kills. MSU was ferocious on the kill, not allowing a shot on net – but seven seconds after the penalty expired, Will Smith sniped a shot glove-side on Augustine to regain the BC lead 4-3. MSU outshot its hosts 12-8 in the period, making the total shots 25-18 after two periods.

Third Period: At the 8:42 mark of the period, the Spartans had already picked up a sixth consecutive penalty kill when the Eagles got another odd-man rush, and grad defenseman Jacob Bengtsson popped home his first goal of the year from the left side, off assist from Colby Ambrosio and Connor Joyce. MSU picked up a pair of penalties 1:26 apart midway through the period – Gucciardi for cross-checking and Dorwart for tripping – to give the home team a 5x3. MSU held them off the board on the two-man advantage, but Cutter Gauthier put one home for a 6-3 lead. Pressing to the final buzzer, Red Savage scored his fourth goal of the year with just over a minute remaining, redirecting a loose puck from the front of the net off a feed from Gavin O'Connell. BC outshot MSU 11-7 in the final period and 36-25 in the game.

Next Event

Team Stats

Karsen Dorwart

Red Savage

Isaac Howard

Jeremy Davidson

Players Mentioned

Trey Augustine

Matt Basgall

Jeremy Davidson

Karsen Dorwart

Isaac Howard

Cole Krygier

Nash Nienhuis

Gavin O'Connell

Daniel Russell

Red Savage