EAST LANSING – After No. 10 Ohio State opened the scoring, Michigan State was able to claim a 4-2 victory in the first game of the series. 

MSU’s top line of Jagger Joshua, Karsen Dorwart and Daniel Russell combined for seven total points and pushed the Spartans to the win. 

“When another team is better than you, don’t panic and get back to your game,” said head coach Adam Nightingale. “Every time we play, that’s our goal. We’re trying to keep getting better and better.”

It was a slow start to the contest, both teams were trying to figure out the other’s defense early until penalties started rolling in. 

OSU freshman defenseman Tyler Duke scored his first goal of the season on the man advantage just over five minutes into the game.

MSU answered right back on its first power play opportunity. Freshman defenseman Matt Basgall fired a rocket from the top of the point and found the back of the net three minutes after Duke’s tally. 

The Spartans found themselves taking a lead early in the second period with a goal by freshman forward Dorwart, his second of the season. He flung a shot on the low blocker side of OSU goaltender Jakub Dobeš which caught him by surprise as it snuck in off the far post.

“Me and him [Dorwart] played together last year pretty much the whole season so we’ve had some chemistry coming into this year,” said Russell, a freshman forward who now leads the team with 14 points. 

It didn’t take long for the Buckeyes to tie it up and with a little bit of luck. Graduate student and captain, Jake Wise, was fed a pass right as he exited the penalty box to spring him free for a breakaway. He slipped a shot through MSU goaltender Dylan St. Cyr’s legs to tie the game at two.

“We nailed out a few points that we wanted to figure out defensively,” St. Syr said. “And the best part is I think we can still be better.” 

Back and forth, high-paced action was the story of the third period as the tension started rising in Munn Ice Arena. 

The green and white were able to reclaim the lead with 3:36 remaining in the final frame as  Russell picked up a loose puck in the slot off of Joshua’s shot and sent an absolute rocket of a wrister into the corner of the net above Dobeš’ blocker. 3-2 for the Spartans.

“We had a good point shot in front and I pulled it out of someone’s feet and just shot it and it went in,” Russell said.

With Dobeš pulled and the clock ticking down, St. Cyr. was too patient with the puck behind his own net and it almost cost the Spartans. With the net wide open, graduate defenseman Cole Krygier was able to save the puck from sliding in with his stick, keeping the one-goal advantage for the Spartans. 

“I was a little too patient with the puck there trying to make a play,” St. Cyr said. “We had a few bodies out in front to make the stop.” 

With 54.6 seconds left on the clock, graduate transfer Justin Jallen was awarded his first goal of the year by rifling one into the empty net. The goal sealed the deal for the Spartans at 4-2. 

“They’re hungry,” Nightingale said. “Sometimes people don’t handle success the right way and you think you’ve arrived and they seem to be getting hungrier each time they have success. So we need to keep being great and keep improving.”

St. Cyr finished the night with 32 saves. Russell earned first-star honors with one goal and two assists to push his point total to a team-leading 14.

MSU will look to sweep OSU as the series closes out on Friday night at 7 p.m. at Munn Ice Arena.