With Michigan State playing Michigan last weekend, resulting in a series split, the rest of the way will feature series against league opponents the Spartans have already played this season.

This coming weekend will feature the eighth-ranked Spartans hosting the ninth-ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers for a pivotal league series. These two teams met back in November, with the Spartans winning three points on the weekend: a shootout win and an overtime loss.

Since that series, the Spartans have taken off, with the loss to the Wolverines last Friday being their first regulation loss since Oct. 27, and Minnesota has gone 8-2-1, with losses to Penn State and Colorado College.

Last weekend, the Gophers easily swept Ohio State in Minneapolis, by final scores of 5-2 and 6-3, and come into East Lansing confident in how they are playing.

Last weekend started about as poor as it could have for the first 90 minutes of gameplay. The Spartans were blitzed early by Michigan at Munn Arena Friday night, falling down 3-0 in the first period, were choked in their transition game all night, being held to a low 23 shots, and lost their discipline in a 7-1 loss.

Saturday night began a tiny bit better on the scoreboard, 1-1 after the first 20 minutes, but play was absolutely against the Spartans and goaltender Trey Augustine kept them in the game under a barrage of pressure. The second period saw Michigan break through for three goals in seven minutes, and with the media timeout at 9:29 to play in the second periodm the game was 4-1 and on the precipice of another blowout.

Everything flipped at that moment though, as Isaac Howard scored on a rush 22 seconds back into gameplay, beating Jake Barczewski high-glove side, which became a theme, and Michigan State seized momentum on a mistake prone D-corps for Michigan right away. MSU's Nico Muller scored on a net front drive with a great backdoor pass from Jeremy Davidson after Davidson hopped on an unforced turnover, then Gavin O'Connell banged home a rebound and it was 4-4 just over three minutes of play later.

Davidson added a goal in the second period to give the Spartans their first lead of the weekend, and Muller added a second goal in the third period, before Joey Larson got in on the party and the Spartans survived another blitz to see out a 7-5 win.

It's not often you play well for only 30 minutes on the weekend and get a series split, but with timely goals and game saving perseverance from the goaltender, the Spartans pulled off such a feat last weekend.

Minnesota would have expected to be a team sitting atop the Big Ten Standings at this point in the season. However, due to Wisconsin having a near perfect record to this point (including sweeping the Gophers in Minnesota), and the Spartans' strong play all season long, the Gophers sit fourth in the standings, 11 points behind the leaders, Michigan State (leading Wisconsin by four points with two games in hand). Notre Dame currently sits in third place.

This weekend will likely decide if Minnesota has even the slightest chance to play for a league title, and for the Spartans, it will be vital to get at least three points to keep some space between them and the Badgers.

Minnesota is led offensively by their top line, featuring Rhett Pitlick and Jimmy Snuggerud. Snuggerud, a first-round NHL draft pick in 2022 to the St. Louis Blues, leads the team in goals scored with 18 in 24 games played, and was a USA teammate of Trey Augustine and Isaac Howard in the U20 World Junior Championships.

Further down the line chart is Bryce Brodzinski, who has been lethal from the third line often times, potting 12 goals himself. Brodzinski has been a matchup issue for the Spartans in the past — he had three goals in the November series and three last season against the Spartans. Finding a way to match up a line with Brodzinski will be vital for the coaching staff, especially with the last change for faceoffs on home ice. I would expect the Spartans to try and match with their second line (Reed Lebster-Nico Muller-Jeremy Davidson) as a veteran-led line with strong 200-foot games, and this also allows the first line to be more offensive-oriented.

In net, Minnesota goaltender Justen Close has statistically had his worst season as a starter. He sports a 2.58 goals against average and a .915 save percentage in 23 starts. Close is still a steady force, but as the Gophers have less talent in front of him than the previous two seasons, more has fallen on him. Interestingly, 20% of the goals scored against Close have come on the power play, and that is a unit that the Spartans need to see succeed this weekend after a pretty bland effort against Michigan.

Against the Gophers, look for the Spartans to try and stick with what worked against Michigan — a forecheck looking to force turnovers in waves again this weekend.

Time: 6 p.m. Eastern Time on Friday, Jan. 26 and 4:00 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 27

Location: Munn Arena, East Lansing, Michigan

Streaming/TV: B1G+ ($$$) Friday. Big Ten Network Saturday

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