The potential to notch one of the most satisfying wins of the year quickly devolved into one of the more frustrating losses of the year for Michigan State hockey, Friday night at Penn State as the Nittany Lions beat the Spartans, 3-2, in overtime at Pegula Ice Arena in University Park, Pa. .
Penn State won the overtime faceoff and the Spartans never gained possession in the extra frame. Penn State's Alex Limoges scored :30 seconds into the three-on-three overtime, with a backhand deflection out of mid-air, past Michigan State goalie Drew DeRidder, who had played an excellent game to that point.
Michigan State came from behind to take a 2-1 early in the third period on a goal by Mitchell Lewandowski, a senior from Clarkston.
The Spartans led 2-1 and were on the power play when Michigan State defenseman Dennis Cesana committed a slashing penalty in the Penn State zone with 2:56 remaining.
That changed everything.
Cesana, a second-team All-Big Ten, offensive-minded defenseman from Providence, R.I., whacked Limoges on the hands as Limoges briefly looked like he might exit the Penn State zone with speed following a blocked shot.
Cesana mildly disputed the call. Michigan State head coach Danton Cole didn’t like any of it.
“It’s a bad penalty,” Cole said. “We were on the power play there, you just can’t take that penalty.”
Soon, Penn State pulled the goalie and applied pressure six-on-four to get the game-tying goal by Connor MacEachern with 1:10 to play.
“Actually, we did a pretty good job (on the six-on-four penalty kill); I think that was their first shot on it,” Cole said. “Stevie (senior forward Brody Stevens) got stuck in front of the net. The puck popped out and he had three guys to cover - the shooter and two receivers. He picked one. And they found the other guy. One more guy on the ice and we’re probably fine there.”
Michigan State fell to 5-6-2 overall and 4-6-1 in Big Ten play. Michigan State gets one point in the Big Ten standings for losing in overtime; Penn State gets three for winning.
Penn State improved to 6-7 overall and 4-7 in Big Ten play.
Every team except Minnesota and Wisconsin are sub-.500 in the Big Ten.
Michigan State will play at Penn State at 3 p.m. on Saturday.
"We darn near had the whole thing killed off," Cole said of the late penalty. "We needed one bounce and didn’t get it, and then anything can happen in three-on-three overtime.
"Tough one, but we got a point in the Big Ten and we got a chance tomorrow to make something good happen and have a real good weekend and come out on top and that’s what our job will be tomorrow."
NODLER BREAKS (MORE) ICE
Sophomore Josh Nodler (5-10, 193, Oak Park, Mich.), the center on MSU’s top line, scored his second goal of the year and his second goal in as many games when he tied it at 1-1 with 4:01 left in the second period.
Then Lewandowski gave Michigan State the 2-1 lead when he banked a puck off the back of the Penn State goalie early in the third period.
At that point, it looked as if MSU’s system was gaining strength and this was going to go down as a workmanlike, come-from-behind, scrappy win for the Spartans.
“The third period we were much better in control, we just couldn’t get the third goal,” Cole said. “We had chances. We had some two-on-ones and didn’t make plays. You have to put teams away when you get the chance.”
ONE THAT GOT AWAY
With 6:15 to play, Michigan State senior Gianluca Esteves, of Winnipeg, Manitoba, blocked a shot and turned it into a two-on-one rush with Stevens. However, they were unable to get a shot on goal as Stevens fired it wide.
Prior to the rush, a Penn State defenseman had broken his stick and was operating without at twig.
A third Penn State player, MacEachern, hurrying back into the play, slid across the goal mouth to stop an Esteves wrap-around opportunity, and took the net off its moorings for a much-needed whistle stoppage for the Nittany Lions.
MacEachern looked to the referee after the play, seemingly worried that he might get called for delay of game for knocking off the goal to end an Michigan State scoring threat.
“That would have been a tough call to make but that’s what we all thought on the bench,” Cole said. “We thought it was pretty intentional, but there’s not much you can do about it. He (referee Kenneth Anderson)) didn’t say anything to us. He didn’t come around the bench very much.”
DERIDDER STRONG AGAIN
DeRidder, a junior from Fenton, was excellent for 58 minutes, and the final two goals weren’t his fault.
DeRidder, who ranks second in the Big Ten in most goaltending categories, was quick with his glove all night. And he made a deflection save on a shorthanded breakaway by Penn State’s Tim Doherty with 11:15 remaining after Michigan State was caught making a line change.
As for the game-winning goal, Cole said: “We’ve seen three overtime games this year and three-on-three things happen. We had decent coverage. They threw it there, and a good play by a good player got a tip on it and it went by Drew.”
ADJUSTMENTS?
Michigan State was a stride slow in the first period as Penn State amassed a 1-0 lead and 17-5 edge in shots on goal.
However, Michigan State outshot Penn State 23-22 the rest of the way and controlled a tight-checking third period with a 10-5 edge in shots on goal, although Cole disputes the shot numbers in general.
“Once we got going in transition and using their aggression against them, and our D did a lot better job moving the puck," Cole said. "Then all the sudden the shots got back to fairly close. The shot clock here … I’ll count them and let you know tomorrow.”
He thinks it was closer than 39-28, for what it’s worth.
“We get a whistle when Goody (junior left wing Adam Goodsir) hits the goalie in the head and breaks his helmet and they don’t give us a shot on net,” Cole said. “That doesn’t matter. You keep score of goals. But I don’t like it. I think it’s dumb doing it that way. It’s not good for hockey and it’s not honest. It doesn’t really matter, it’s all right, they can do it how they want.”
What did Michigan State do to tilt the ice midway through the game, or at least bring it back to even?
“It wasn’t a big thing,” Cole said. “Bobs and Joes are more important than X’s and O’s. We just weren’t moving. We were standing still. We had one guy working and four guys not. We would make a play, get it to the next guy and he would say, ‘Okay, now I’m going to start moving’ and try to make a play.
“We just weren’t working as units of five. That was the biggest thing, especially through the neutral zone. We were kind of just staring down plays.
“As the game went on, we got better. We were working as groups of five. When we do that, we’re not bad."
Michigan State came into the game ranked No. 6 in the nation in face off wins at 55 percent, but Penn State held a 41-33 edge on this night.
The scrappier Spartans helped negate that edge with a 23-14 edge in blocked shots.
“It’s disappointing but I think as the game went on we did more and more things better,” Cole said. “We were on the back side of it early on and then found some rhythm and got back up to game speed and did some things well. But you have to do things better for the whole 60.
“We have to skate a little better and skate off the puck and put a few more at the net. I thought we pulled up just inside the blue line way too much and that makes it easier for (their defense). I think we have to drive them a little more and get a little speed off the puck. That got better as the game went on.
“We were in a good spot. We played a really good third and we didn’t give up much and if we don’t take a bad penalty we are probably in good shape.”