EAST LANSING— Despite a late rally, No. 1 Michigan State couldn’t overcome a daunting three-goal deficit to No. 18 Penn State as the Nittany Lions held on for a 3-2 victory, spoiling the Spartans’ Senior Night.
The Spartans haven’t had many deficits this season, but they did play from behind for 59 minutes in this game and Spartans head coach Adam Nightingale was pleased with how his team responded.
“There was no panic, I thought we stayed with how we needed to play,” Nightingale said. “I love the response to that, the guys stuck together.”
With Penn State on the bubble of the NCAA Tournament, adding five points in a series against the No. 1 team in the nation is a considerable resume boost.
“They’re playing some really good hockey, and their goalie is playing very well so it’s tough to come back,” MSU defenseman Matt Basgall said.
Coming into the weekend, the Spartans had a four-point lead in the Big Ten standings. Now, they sit in second place after Minnesota swept Ohio State this weekend.
“Control what you can, win your games, it’s pretty simple,” MSU forward Karsen Dorwart said on what the Spartans need to follow up the disappointing weekend.
After the game, the Spartans held a ceremony for their four seniors, defenseman Nicklas Andrews, defenseman David Gucciardi, forward Tanner Kelly and captain Red Savage, who is out for the season with an upper-body injury.
Nightingale was very proud of his senior class and what they achieved for the program during their career.
“Couldn’t be happier about those four and I think about the concept of leaving a place better than you found it,” Nightingale said.
It took Penn State 59 seconds to get going as the Nittany Lions capitalized on their first zone entry with freshman center Charlie Cerrato scoring first.
Allowing the first goal isn’t a death sentence like it is for other teams across the nation, the Spartans are still 6-2-3 when allowing the first goal.
However, Penn State got its second goal past Spartans goaltender Trey Augustine less than a minute later. Cerrato’s linemate, freshman forward JJ Wiebusch scored, giving the Nittany Lions a two-goal cushion.
“Flush that 90 seconds, we had a lot of positives,” Dorwart said.
After a 36-save performance in game one of the series, Nittany Lions goaltender Arsenii Sergeev turned in another impressive performance. Sergeev stopped 33 shots on net before the Spartans finally broke through, he finished the game with 42 saves.
Spartans forward Tommi Männistö scored on a short-handed opportunity to give the Spartans a puncher’s chance to get back in the game halfway through the third period.
With eight seconds remaining, Dorwart scored to cut the deficit to one goal, but it wouldn’t be enough as the Nittany Lions held on for the much-needed win.
The Spartans will be on the road to face the Notre Dame Fighting Irish starting Friday, Feb. 28. This will be the final regular season series with the Big Ten regular season title on the line.
