Saturday, January 25
6 PM
Michigan State University
20-3-3, 11-2-3
3
vs
3
Minnesota
19-6-3, 10-4-2
1
2
3
OT 1
OT 2
F
Minnesota
0
3
0
0
0
3
Michigan State
1
2
0
0
0
3
MSU, Gophers Skate to 3-3 Tie
1/25/2025 10:46:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey
East Lansing, Mich. – No. 2/2 Michigan State earned a 3-3 tie and captured the overtime point with a pair of shootout goals against No. 4/3 Minnesota on Saturday night at Munn Arena. The Spartans took five of six points on the weekend and have a six-point lead over the second-place Gophers in the Big Ten standings with eight regular-season games to play.
Tied at 3-3 entering the final period, the teams engaged in a battle for space and shots on goal in the final 20 minutes, and the Spartans had the better of the chances in overtime – but Gopher goalie Liam Souliere came up with a pair of big saves to settle the game in a deadlock. MSU scored twice in the shootout with goals by Daniel Russell and Isaac Howard after the two Minnesota shooters (Jimmy Snuggerud and Ryan Chesley) could not put shots on net.
MSU led 1-0 after 20 minutes for the second straight night on a goal by Matt Basgall, and the second period saw the two teams trade goals – three for the Gophers, two for MSU from Joey Larson and Tanner Kelly – to leave the ice in a 3-3 deadlock for the second intermission.
Kelly and classmate David Gucciardi each had two points – a goal and an assist for Kelly and a pair of helpers for Gucciardi.
Souliere finished with 35 saves after 11 in relief on Friday. Augustine made 18 saves and earned his first assist of the season, the secondary helper on Larson's goal..
MSU plays in Columbus next weekend, taking on No. 9/8 Ohio State in a series that will be played on Thursday and Friday. Thursday's game will air on BTN.
STATISTICS OF NOTE
PERIOD RECAPS
First Period: The Spartans scored 16 minutes into the game. Tanner Kelly won a faceoff in the offensive zone back to David Gucciardi at the right point, and Gucciardi fed Matt Basgall in the high slot. The cannon found its mark, resulting in the junior's fifth goal of the season. MSU held a 13-6 edge in shots in the opening frame.
Second Period: The second period played out a lot like the Friday night edition – the Gophers tied the game at 5:58 on a goal by Snuggerud, MSU came back just 1:40 later on a Joey Larson goal, and Snuggerud potted his second of the night to tie the game up at 2-2 at 10:20. The game remained tied for 4:07 before the Spartans went back on top. With MSU spending more than two minutes in their offensive zone, the Gophers were fighting to clear it, but MSU was ferocious and kept the puck in their own end and foced Souliere to make six saves – four in a row in a 20-second span – before Tanner Kelly collected the last rebound off a blast from Gucciardi in the high slot. He grabbed It in front of the left post, skated it out the bottom of the hashmarks, and scored his fifth goal of the season to make it 3-2 at 14:27. The Gophers got their first power play chance with 1:50 remaining in the period and made the most of it, getting the equalizer with just 21 seconds remaining. Jimmy Clark put a shot on net at the right post, which was saved by Augustine, but went out to the right side. Middlestadt swiped at it, causing the puck to bounce past Augustine – Matt Basgall nearly had a goal-line clear, but it found its way into the back of the net. MSU continued to control the faceoff dot with 29 wins in 44 chances and held a 29-15 edge in shots on goal.
Third Period: The third period played out much differently than Friday – space was at a premium, each team had five shots through the opening 12 minutes, and looked more like a game one would likely expect of the top two defenses in the Big Ten. The Spartans kept the Gopher offense without a shot on net in the final eight minutes, but only had three shots of their own in that span.
Overtime: The teams skated through 4:50 without a whistle, with MSU generating a pair of chances - point-blank save on Tiernan Shoudy three minutes into the extra period and and a save on Karsen Dorwart with 10 seconds remaining.
SHOOTOUT RESULTS
MSU - Dorwart - Saved
MINN - Snuggerud – Missed
MSU - Russell – GOAL
MINN - Chesley – Missed
MSU - Howard – GOAL
Spartans win the shootout, 2-0
Tied at 3-3 entering the final period, the teams engaged in a battle for space and shots on goal in the final 20 minutes, and the Spartans had the better of the chances in overtime – but Gopher goalie Liam Souliere came up with a pair of big saves to settle the game in a deadlock. MSU scored twice in the shootout with goals by Daniel Russell and Isaac Howard after the two Minnesota shooters (Jimmy Snuggerud and Ryan Chesley) could not put shots on net.
MSU led 1-0 after 20 minutes for the second straight night on a goal by Matt Basgall, and the second period saw the two teams trade goals – three for the Gophers, two for MSU from Joey Larson and Tanner Kelly – to leave the ice in a 3-3 deadlock for the second intermission.
Kelly and classmate David Gucciardi each had two points – a goal and an assist for Kelly and a pair of helpers for Gucciardi.
Souliere finished with 35 saves after 11 in relief on Friday. Augustine made 18 saves and earned his first assist of the season, the secondary helper on Larson's goal..
MSU plays in Columbus next weekend, taking on No. 9/8 Ohio State in a series that will be played on Thursday and Friday. Thursday's game will air on BTN.
STATISTICS OF NOTE
- MSU and Minnesota have skated to 3-3 ties in two of the four games this season, with MSU winning the shootout in each contest.
- The Green and White finished 2-0-2 against the Gophers in the season series, taking 10 of 12 points available in the B1G standings.
- This was MSU's most successful season series against Minnesota since the 1972-73 season, when the Spartans were 3-0-1 in the four games between the squads. MSU is 3-2-3 over the last two years against the Gophers, which was preceded by 14 consecutive losses to Minnesota dating back to December 2020.
- The Spartans are 10-1-1 at Munn Ice Arena this season, unbeaten in 11 straight games after an opening-night loss to Boston College.
- MSU is unbeaten in its last three games after suffering its third loss of the season on Jan. 17 at No. 10 Michigan. MSU put together nine-game winning and unbeaten streaks, respectively, after each of its first two losses of the year.
- The Spartans have a 3-1-3 record in overtime games this season, including two ties with the Gophers (both with shootout victories).
- Tanner Kelly had a goal and an assist in Saturday's game, scoring the third goal of the game and winning the faceoff that led to Matt Basgall's first-period marker. It was his third multiple-point game of the season, and pushed his season line to 5-8-13.
- Basgall scored his career-best fifth goal of the season and now has 19 points on the year, which also establishes a new career best.
- Joey Larson scored his ninth goal of the season in the second period on an impressive individual effort, carrying the puck from the center red into the zone, eluding a defender, and going over Souliere's glove hand.
- David Gucciardi had two assists after a pair of goals in Friday's game. He now has a 4-8-12 scoring line, surpassing his career-best 11 points as a freshman. His career best in goals is five, which was also established his freshman season.
- Trey Augustine owns a 3-1-2 record against teams ranked in the top five at the time of the game and 6-2-2 against top 20 teams.. He finished with 18 saves on Saturday.
- Augustine earned his second career assist on Larson's goal. His first came in the 2024 NCAA Tournament.
- With 18 saves, it was Augustine's fewest saves in a Big Ten game this season. He had 15 in a shutout win at Canisius in October.
- Karsen Dorwart and Joey Larson each played in their 100th career game.
- Nicklas Andrews had six blocked shots in the game, establishing a new career best. He blocked nine in the series (of MSU's combined 25 in the two games).
PERIOD RECAPS
First Period: The Spartans scored 16 minutes into the game. Tanner Kelly won a faceoff in the offensive zone back to David Gucciardi at the right point, and Gucciardi fed Matt Basgall in the high slot. The cannon found its mark, resulting in the junior's fifth goal of the season. MSU held a 13-6 edge in shots in the opening frame.
Matt Basgall's cannon from the high slot beats Souliere glove-side for his fifth of the year. Gucciardi and Kelly on the assists. pic.twitter.com/VIWf4XbDYK
— Michigan State Hockey (@MSU_Hockey) January 25, 2025
Second Period: The second period played out a lot like the Friday night edition – the Gophers tied the game at 5:58 on a goal by Snuggerud, MSU came back just 1:40 later on a Joey Larson goal, and Snuggerud potted his second of the night to tie the game up at 2-2 at 10:20. The game remained tied for 4:07 before the Spartans went back on top. With MSU spending more than two minutes in their offensive zone, the Gophers were fighting to clear it, but MSU was ferocious and kept the puck in their own end and foced Souliere to make six saves – four in a row in a 20-second span – before Tanner Kelly collected the last rebound off a blast from Gucciardi in the high slot. He grabbed It in front of the left post, skated it out the bottom of the hashmarks, and scored his fifth goal of the season to make it 3-2 at 14:27. The Gophers got their first power play chance with 1:50 remaining in the period and made the most of it, getting the equalizer with just 21 seconds remaining. Jimmy Clark put a shot on net at the right post, which was saved by Augustine, but went out to the right side. Middlestadt swiped at it, causing the puck to bounce past Augustine – Matt Basgall nearly had a goal-line clear, but it found its way into the back of the net. MSU continued to control the faceoff dot with 29 wins in 44 chances and held a 29-15 edge in shots on goal.
Augustine off the glass to O'Connell, and he feeds Larson in the neutral zone. He breaks in, dekes around the defender, and goes over Souliere's glove hand. 2-1 MSU. pic.twitter.com/NJ0UiQMQuU
— Michigan State Hockey (@MSU_Hockey) January 26, 2025
Third Period: The third period played out much differently than Friday – space was at a premium, each team had five shots through the opening 12 minutes, and looked more like a game one would likely expect of the top two defenses in the Big Ten. The Spartans kept the Gopher offense without a shot on net in the final eight minutes, but only had three shots of their own in that span.
Overtime: The teams skated through 4:50 without a whistle, with MSU generating a pair of chances - point-blank save on Tiernan Shoudy three minutes into the extra period and and a save on Karsen Dorwart with 10 seconds remaining.
SHOOTOUT RESULTS
MSU - Dorwart - Saved
MINN - Snuggerud – Missed
MSU - Russell – GOAL
MINN - Chesley – Missed
MSU - Howard – GOAL
Spartans win the shootout, 2-0
Team Stats
MIN
MSU
Shots
21
38
PPG
1
0
SHG
0
0
Penalties
1
1
Penalty Mins
2
2
Faceoffs Won
23
41
Game Leaders
Skaters
+/-
1
Goals
1
Sh
2
A
1
+/-
2
Goals
0
Sh
2
A
2
+/-
1
Goals
1
Sh
5
A
0
+/-
1
Goals
1
Sh
3
A
0
Players Mentioned
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