EAST LANSING– Michigan State hockey beat the Notre Dame Fighting Irish 4-3, extending their winning streak to seven games.

Notre Dame decided to shake things up in the net after junior goaltender Owen Say and junior goaltender Jack Williams allowed eight goals the day before. This meant third-string freshman goaltender Nicholas Kempf got the start in goal.

The Spartans started right where they left off Friday, getting out to a 1-0 lead thanks to freshman forward Shane Vansaghi who scored his second goal of the season.

“It was definitely a really good way to come back from a big win yesterday,” Vansaghi said.

Getting out to an early start is important for the Spartans as they improve to a 7-0 record when scoring first.

Continuing the trend from their past matchup, both teams played a physical brand of hockey which led to committing penalties. In total, there were 15 penalties in this series with MSU committing nine.

Notre Dame capitalized on their first power play with graduate forward Blake Biondi who leveled the score at one with 30 seconds remaining in the period.

Similar to Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs, the Spartans don’t need much time to score. With .6 seconds remaining in the period, MSU junior defenseman Matt Basgall scored to beat the buzzer and took a 2-1 lead.

“Those are big moments in a game if you can capitalize but you can’t bank on it,”  said MSU head coach Adam Nightingale.

Spartans forwards sophomore Gavin O’Connell and junior Daniel Russell both added to the lead in the second period.

Although the Spartans held on to win in a 4-3 victory, Notre Dame put a lot of pressure on MSU with an extra attacker.

“They had a really good push but I think we weathered the storm,” said Russell.

The Spartans are now at the top of the Big Ten standings, overtaking Minnesota with 12 points as a perfect 4-0.

Next up for MSU is, the US National Team Developmental Program, in Plymouth, Thursday, Nov. 21 at 7 p.m.