It took just three minutes to change the course of this game.
Between 18:44 of the second period and 1:44 of the third period, Michigan State forward Anthony Romani scored two goals. Neither were pretty goals, but they were all the No. 3 Spartans needed to win. Despite scoring first, the No. 1 Michigan hockey team found no answer.
In another low-scoring affair, the Wolverines (16-4 overall, 7-3 Big Ten) fell to Michigan State (12-4, 5-3), 3-1, splitting the first round of the season series.
“That’s a playoff weekend right there,” senior defenseman Luca Fantilli said. “That’s a good hockey team, and it’s definitely a fight and a battle Add we came out on top yesterday, and we don’t like some of our game today and we lose.”
The game was strange from the jump as both teams scored when they were shooting less than their opponent. Michigan was caved in shots in the first period, recording just four while the Spartans posted 17. But the Wolverines scored anyway to put themselves up 1-0.
On Michigan’s second power play of the night, senior forward T.J. Hughes forced a turnover in the neutral zone as the Spartans attempted to challenge shorthanded. Hughes sent the puck up the ice to sophomore forward Michael Hage, who had a relatively clear lane to the goal and easily could have taken the shot. Instead, he opted for a drop pass to sophomore forward Will Horcoff, who beat Michigan State goaltender Trey Augustine blocker side for his 19th of the season.
It was the Spartans’ turn to be outshot in the second period as Michigan posted 14 shots to their eight. But, like the Wolverines in the first, they emerged from the period with the lone score. Michigan State forward Anthony Romani was standing behind Michigan’s goal with just over one minute remaining in the first. Rather than send a pass to the netfront, he opted to bank the puck off the back of freshman goaltender Jack Ivankovic’s pads and into the net to tie the game up at one.
Just 1:44 into the third period, Romani struck again. Michigan State’s forecheck dominated the neutral zone all night and the Wolverines struggled to break it as they kept trying to enter the offensive zone with plays rather than their traditional dump and chase. The Spartans intercepted a seam pass and headed for Ivankovic. Romani fired through the screen of freshman defender Drew Schock and the bouncing puck squeaked through Ivankovic’s fivehole. In an instant, Romani turned the game on its head. Suddenly, Michigan was behind — and the Spartans had their first lead of the weekend.
“We didn’t get it behind them enough,” Naurato said. “That would be the only thing I’m disappointed in is the whole gameplan. It’s not against State, it’s just how you win hockey games. There’s no selfishness, which is rare to say, in a good way. It’s not crazy toe drags or selfish play. It’s just, ‘I think I can make this play.’ It’s basic blackjack strategy — you don’t hit on 16 when the dealer’s showing a six. You just don’t. So you lay it in. You don’t try and make the drop pass, you don’t try and make the seam pass. And that’s how they scored their game winner.”
For the remainder of the game, Michigan State’s only objective was to prevent the tying goal. The Spartans’ already smothering neutral zone play increased in intensity, suffocating the Wolverines’ offense. Michigan State responded to Michigan’s repeated attempts to cross the blue line with possession by poke-checking the Wolverines left and right, forcing turnovers at every opportunity and preventing Michigan from entering the zone with numbers.
“It cost us more tonight than yesterday,” junior forward Nick Moldenhauer said. “We just didn’t lay it in enough. I think guys, including myself, are just trying to do too much in the neutral zone, where they play really hard in the neutral zone and turn pucks over and transition well. That’s where we went wrong tonight. Just got to get it behind them, feed our forecheck and get to work, and we have a lot of success when we do that. We got away from that tonight, and it cost us.”
Even as the Wolverines broke through that forecheck late in the game, they could not find the equalizer. With just over a minute to go, Michigan State forward Porter Martone iced the game with an empty netter to make it 3-1 and seal their fate.
Just as Michigan State fell at home on Friday, so too, did Michigan on Saturday.
