Spartans Rebound With Win Over OSU

East Lansing, Mich.. – No. 4/4 Michigan State rebounded from a Friday loss with a 5-2 victory over Ohio State on Saturday night at Munn Ice Arena. The Spartans improve to 21-8-3 overall and 15-5-2 in Big Ten play.
With the win, MSU maintains its top spot atop the Big Ten standings with a two-point lead heading into the final weekend of the regular season at Wisconsin. That series will determine the Big Ten regular-season champion.
The all-sophomore line of Isaac Howard and Daniel Russell centered by Karsen Dorwart had eight points to propel MSU, particularly with a 3-for4 effort on the power play. Howard and Dorwart each finished with a goal and two assists, while Russell had a goal and an assist on the night.
Freshmen Gavin O'Connell and Patrick Geary each had goals for MSU as well, while Trey Augustine finished his night with 28 saves.
Kristoffer Eberly made 29 saves for Ohio State, which got goals from Max Montes and Scooter Brickey. The Buckeyes fall to 12-16-4, 4-16-2 Big Ten after having its three-game winning streak snapped.
Michigan State is on the road next weekend at Wisconsin in a series which will determine the 2024 Big Ten regular-season champion.

STATISTICS OF NOTE

Karsen Dorwart had a three-point night, his first since the Ohio State series back in November. He pushed his stat line to 13-16-29, surpassing the 27 points he had as a freshman.
Isaac Howard had a goal and two assists- all on the power play, pushing him to the 8-22-30 scoring line, the second player to reach 30 points this season.
Gavin O'Connell had his third goal of the weekend and seventh of the season against Ohio State.
Freshman Patrick Geary scored his fourth goal of the year.
MSU scored twice on the power play and three times on the man advantage over the weekend. (1-for-4 Friday)
MSU finished the game with six seniors on the ice, including netminder Jon Mor – who saw his first-ever Big Ten action between the pipes.

First Period: The two teams played an up-tempo, end-to-end opening of the game, as the squads combined for 23 shots on net over the opening 15 minutes without a score. MSU broke through at 14:41 on a rush, as Karsen Dorwart took a pass from Daniel Russell and drove hard to the net. He backhanded the puck toward Isaac Howard who was crashing the left side, but the puck ricocheted off a defenseman in front and past Kristoffer Eberly for the centerman's 13^th goal of the season. The Buckeyes wasted little time in gaining an equalizer – MSU turned the puck over along the far wall as it tried to clear the zone and it was picked off by Max Montes, who went in alone and scored his sixth goal of the season. The teams combined for 27 shots on net in the period – 14 for OSU and 13 for the home team.

Second Period: Michigan State blew open a 1-1 game with three scores in the second period. Patrick Geary broke the tie with his fourth goal of the season at 8:24. MSU had a four-on-two advantage in the offensive zone, and Tiernan Shoudy sent a pass across the slot to Tanner Kelly. Kelly was patient and sent the puck netward, where Geary collected it and gave MSU back the lead. A boarding major against Patrick Guzzo gave MSU five full minutes of power play time, and the Spartans took full advantage, scoring a pair of goals less than a minute apart by Gavin O'Connell (his third of the weekend) and Isaac Howard to push a tight game into a 4-1 Spartan advantage. MSU's shot advantage was a slim 12-10.

Third Period: The Buckeyes – buoyed by playing their best hockey of the season over the last few weeks – kept the pressure on into the third in an effort to cut the deficit. At the 6:25 mark, Scooter Brickey shot from the left circle past a screened Augustine for his 11^th goal of the season to bring the visitors within a pair. That was as close as it would come for the visitors, as Trey Augustine shut down any chances remaining – and senior Jon Mor came on in relief in the final minute for his first B1G action of his career. MSU outshot the Buckeyes 9-6 in the final frame and 34-30 in the game.

Players Mentioned

Trey Augustine

Karsen Dorwart

Patrick Geary

Isaac Howard

Tanner Kelly

Jon Mor

Gavin O'Connell

Daniel Russell

Tiernan Shoudy