MSU Falls 5-1 at BC in Series Finale

Chestnut Hill, Mass. – No. 8/7 Michigan State dropped its second straight game at No. 3/3 Boston College, falling 5-1 to the Eagles on the road on Friday.

BC got one midway through the opening frame when Mike Posma redirected a loose puck in a scrum in front of the net, and then another early in the second with a Cutter Gauthier power-play marker from the top of the slot. Jack Malone added a pair of third-period markers for BC, which improves to 5-1 on the season.

Karsen Dorwart scored the goal for MSU in the third period off assists from Artyom Levshunov and Isaac Howard.

MSU goalie Trey Augustine was strong for the Spartans turning away point-blank shots from the sharp BC shooters and finishing with 29 saves; at the other end, Jacob Fowler kept MSU off the board for two periods, had 38 saves, and got some help from BC's 20 blocked shots.

While the teams spent considerable amounts of time in the penalty boxes on Thursday, Friday was a far different story – the teams combined for just 14 minutes in the box on Friday, but MSU paid mightily as the Eagles scored two of their goals on the power play in four chances.

Shots were 39-34 in favor of the Spartans.

Michigan State will travel for its Big Ten Conference opener next weekend, heading to Columbus for a two-game set with the Buckeyes. Gametimes are 7 pm (Friday) and 5 pm (Saturday)

STATISTICS OF NOTE

Trey Augustine made 29 saves for MSU.
Karsen Dorwart scored his fifth goal of the year and third of the weekend to get MSU on the board in the third period.
The loss snapped MSU's streak of scoring four goals or more in a game. MSU entered the weekend having scored at least four in each of its first seven games, and with a 4.83 goals per game average ranked first in the Big Ten and fifth nationally.
Senior Jeremy Davidson played in his 100^th career game on Friday after classmate Nash Nienhuis appeared in his 100^th game on Thursday against the Eagles.

First Period:   Both teams killed off penalties in the opening 10 minutes of play. The Eagles broke through at 13:28, when Mike Posma poked home a loose puck in front of the net after a pair of Augustine saves, scoring his first goal of the year.

Second Period:   BC doubled its lead 5:30 in to the second period. Skating on the power play, Cuttier Gauthier was stationed in the high slot unmarked and received the pass from Gabe Perrault. His wrister beat Augustine high glove-side for his fifth goal of the season. The rest of the period was end-to-end rushes, chances, few whistles, and no penalties – MSU outshot their hosts 14-8 in the period, an won 11 faceoffs to seven

Third Period: An early MSU penalty put BC's impressive power play back on the ice. MSU tried to break the puck out of the zone, but Gabe Perrault collected it in the neutral zone, slid it across the high slot for Jack Malone, and he sniped it from the dot in the right circle.   Malone scored a second at 8:53, as Andre Gasseau got Augustine to commit at the left post, and Gasseau slid it across the low slot to Malone at the bottom of the right circle. MSU broke up the shutout with a Karsen Dorwart goal at 9:38. Nash Nienhuis lifted it in from the left point, and a couple whacks at it in front and two Fowler saves later, Dorwart roofed it for his fifth of the season and third of the weekend. BC's Andre Gasseau took a penalty to put MSU on the power play at 10:54, and as the penalty expired, the Eagles fed him for a breakaway that looked like a fifth Eagle tally; however, the goal was overturned. Gauthier scored an empty net tally for his second goal of the game with less than a minute remaining.

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Team Stats

Karsen Dorwart

Isaac Howard

Artyom Levshunov

Joey Larson

Players Mentioned

Trey Augustine

Jeremy Davidson

Karsen Dorwart

Isaac Howard

Artyom Levshunov

Nash Nienhuis

Players Mentioned

Trey Augustine

Jeremy Davidson

Karsen Dorwart

Isaac Howard

Artyom Levshunov

Nash Nienhuis