NEW YORK – For the second straight game, No. 13 Minnesota scored a late third-period goal to edge Michigan State, giving the Golden Gophers a 2-1 win in Madison Square Garden, a weekend sweep of the Spartans and six very important Big Ten conference points.
“It was an important weekend for us,” said Minnesota coach Don Lucia. “We had to get points. We were all disappointed last weekend getting swept at home by Michigan. As far as our nonleague [games], we’ve done so many good things nonleague but we’ve faltered within the league, and obviously not winning on the road is one of them. We’ll take our six points.”
On Thursday night in East Lansing, it was Tyler Sheehy at 17:12 in the third who gave Minnesota the 5-4 win over Michigan State. Tonight as part of the Big Ten’s Super Saturday, it was a Brent Gates at 16:31, a fluky goal that put the Gophers ahead just eight minutes after the Spartans had tied the game. Casey Mittelstadt carried the puck into the Michigan State end and passed to Jack Ramsey, who passed the puck across the slot to Gates – who had to contend with Michigan State’s Mitch Eliot, who slid through the crease on his belly to try to interrupt the play.
“Casey made a really good play coming into the zone, got it low, and it was kind of a bouncing puck,” said Gates. “Ramsey stayed with it and whacked away at it. Somehow it got to the front of the net, a bouncing puck again for me and I just slapped it in.”
The Spartans found themselves behind in more ways than one from almost the start of the game. At 4:12 in the first period, the Spartans lost their top goal scorer for the game when Mitchell Lewandowski earned a five-minute major penalty and game misconduct for contact to the head. Shortly after that, Lewandowski’s linemate and the team’s leading point scorer, Taro Hirose, left the game with an injury.
“It’s not a big secret that we rely on that line,” said Michigan State coach Danton Cole. “Those guys are big parts of our team, and when we win, you always have those guys all over the score sheet, doing a lot of good things for us. And they occupy the other team as well.”
Yet the Spartans hung around and were never out of the contest. Mittelstadt scored at 11:23 to give the Gophers a 1-0 lead that lasted until Cody Milan tipped in Jerad Rosburg’s shot at 8:22 in the third.
“I thought in the third period, we really struggled,” said Lucia. “Sometimes you’ve got to keep your game simple when you’re struggling with the puck. I thought at times we played east-west, we didn’t get a puck behind people … and try to do things off the rush. When you’re struggling, you just turn pucks over and shorten the rink and it’s back in your own zone.”
Michigan State captain, Carson Gatt, said that the Spartans had no doubt that they were in the game until the very end. “Everyone battled. It was great to see guys step up, got a little more ice time with only ten forwards out there. It was really great to see. The result’s not what we want, but you come out of that game [knowing] our guys battled very hard and we gave ourselves a chance to win the game.”
The game was the nightcap for the Big Ten’s third Super Saturday in Madison Square Garden, an event that pairs an afternoon conference basketball game with an evening hockey game. The trip was a big deal for the players, said Lucia.
“For a lot of kids, they’re certainly never going to get to play in this venue again,” said Lucia. “We have a handful or a few, maybe, that get to play in the show and get to experience it. I think the guys really enjoyed it. It’s a really positive experience when they get to play in an environment like this. Big city, bright lights.”
“We talked quite a bit about [how] we get to come and we get to walk around the city but making sure we keep it a business trip,” said Mittelstadt. “Obviously this weekend was huge for us. We needed to get two wins.”
Next weekend, Minnesota (15-12-1, 6-9-1-1 B1G) hosts No. 1 Notre Dame. The Spartans (9-16-1, 3-12-1-1 B1G) have a bye week next week and return to play on the road against Ohio State Feb. 2-3.
