EAST LANSING – After a 6-2 loss to Ohio State, No. 4 Michigan State was back on the ice looking to split the series against the Buckeyes on senior night. The Spartans defeated the Buckeyes 5-2 with an impressive performance on the power play to split the series.

“What a special night for our seniors,” said MSU head coach Adam Nightingale. “I thought the crowd was awesome, they were into it. The way they stuck around after the game for our guys, shows the support our guys get, it’s pretty special.

The Spartans opened up the scoring late in the first period with a goal by sophomore forward Karsen Dorwart, his 13th of the season.

The Buckeyes struck back two minutes later with an unassisted goal by freshman forward Max Montes to even the game at one after the first period. 

In the second period, the Spartans regained the lead with freshman defenseman Patrick Geary scoring his fourth goal of the season. 

After a major penalty on Ohio State senior forward Patrick Guzzo for hitting from behind, the Spartans scored two power-play goals in 44 seconds by freshman forward Gavin O’Connell and sophomore forward Issac Howard to give MSU a 4-1 lead.

“I thought we played really good in the second and got to our game,” said Nightingale. “You’ve got to be able to go out and execute in those moments, and the guys did.”

Sophomore forward Daniel Russell added to the Spartans’ success on the power play with his 10th goal of the season late in the third period. The Spartans in total went 3 for 4 on power play opportunities.

Fifth-year senior defenseman Scooter Brickey added to the scoring column in the third period for the Buckeyes.

The Spartans will next travel to Madison, Wisconsin to face off against No. 6 Wisconsin with the Big Ten regular-season title and the No. 1 seed in the Big Ten tournament on the line.

“I’m really excited about it,” said Nightingale on the upcoming series. “An opportunity to go into a hostile environment and try to win a championship and the guys have earned that.”