No. 1 Hockey Drops Series Opener Against Ohio State

Friday, February 27

East Lansing, Mich.

8:30 PM

Michigan State University

24-7-0, 15-6-0

Ohio State

12-18-1, 8-13-0

Ohio St.

Michigan St.

Photo by: Michael Caples

2/28/2026 12:58:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey

Box Score

EAST LANSING, Mich – No. 1-ranked Michigan State hockey fell in its series opener against Ohio State on Friday night, 5-1, from Ron Mason Rink at Munn Ice Arena.

"A tough game for us for sure," said Michigan State head coach Adam Nightingale. "Give credit to Ohio State, they were the better hockey team. They beat us in all facets there tonight, for sure. We have to be sharper, and at the end of the day that is my responsibility to make sure the guys are ready to go, and they weren't ready to go. They took it to us. I thought we had a decent stretch in the second, but you know some of the o-zone penalties when we're not moving our feet, we can't do that. We have to get a little rest here, get back at it tomorrow."

MSU moves to 24-7-0 overall and 15-6 in Big Ten play needing five more points towards the Big Ten standings over the final three games of the regular season to clinch the outright conference championship. Ohio State improves to 12-18-1 (8-13 B1G) ahead of Saturday night's series finale at 8:00 p.m.

Michigan State was outshot 39-23 and held a 38-33 advantage on the draw led by senior Charlie Stramel's 16 face-off wins. On special teams the Spartans went 6-for-8 on the penalty kill but did not covert on their three power play chances. Junior Trey Augustine made 34 saves in goal on 39 shots faced.

Freshman forward Anthony Romani tallied the lone goal of the night for MSU on an assist from junior defenseman Patrick Geary. Geary blocked a career-best five shots.

How It Happened
Ohio State blitzed MSU for three goals in a span of 3:28 mid-way through the first period to take a 3-0 lead into the first intermission. The Buckeyes scored 4-on-4 and later scored on a power play to lead 2-0 13:51 into the period. A rebounded puck found the back of the net at 15:36 to increase the OSU advantage.

A Buckeye power play goal extended the OSU lead to 4-0 at 11:52, just past the midway point of the second period. Romani opened the scoring for Michigan State late in the second, scoring off a stretch pass from Geary at 16:22 to swing momentum towards the Spartans heading into the second intermission.

Anthony Romani gets us on the board in the second period! pic.twitter.com/HPm4v2iEcX
— Michigan State Hockey (@MSU_Hockey) February 28, 2026

OSU scored on a deflection off a shot from the left point 2:42 into the third period to take a 5-1 lead. Michigan State's penalty kill stood tall late in the period killing off two minutes of a 5-on-3 power play.