The Badgers swept the Spartans on their home ice.
No. 2 Wisconsin men’s hockey (10-2-2, 6-2-0 Big 10) faced No. 3 Michigan State (11-3-0, 4-2-0 Big 10) away in East Lansing over the weekend and jumped five spots in the rankings. Michigan State was knocked from the No. 1 spot down to No. 3.
Statement win
Wisconsin took down the top team in the NCAA on Friday 5-4.
Sophomore goaltender Eli Pulver started in net game one. Pulver took his first starting opportunity and backstopped a fired up Michigan State offense.
The game started chippy. Sophomore defenseman Jack Phelan sat in the box for two minutes for roughing after the whistle at 4:45. The Badgers won a few faceoffs and held back the Spartans power play unit.
Michigan State dominated Wisconsin’s defensive zone, scoring the first goal of the game and beating Pulver stick-side at the 8:00 minute mark.
Sophomore defenseman Logan Hensler was assessed a two-minute minor for interference at 10:39 after blasting a Michigan State defenseman.
The Spartans were aggressive following Hensler’s hit. Head coach Adam Nightingale pulled goaltender Trey Augustine for an extra attacker on the power play and ripped one in over Pulver’s shoulder to put them up 2-0.
Senior forward Christian Fitzgerald sat two for slashing as the goal was scored, prompting another power play immediately after Michigan State’s second goal. Wisconsin held them off once again, allowing only one Spartans shot on goal.
Wisconsin came out into period two on fire. After an early hooking call, Fitzgerald wristed one in over Augustine’s right shoulder off Tassy’s pass.
Three minutes later at 4:11, freshman forward Blake Montgomery flipped one in over Augustine’s stick-side from just outside his crease. Tassy skated patiently around the net before passing it to Montgomery for the game-tying goal.
A freshman forward Grady Deering faceoff win set up sophomore forward Adam Pietila’s goal. Pietela’s shot hit the top right corner of the net to take the lead 3-2 off a Badgers short two-on-one play.
Wisconsin went back on the power play for tripping, accumulating four shots before Michigan State killed their penalty. Following, the Spartans were getting shot after shot on Pulver before a media timeout ended the onslaught.
With fresh legs following the short break, senior forward Tyson Dyck scored his first goal of the season in his fifth game this season. On another short Badgers two-on-one Dyck and freshman forward Vasily Zelenov out-played Augustine and took a 4-2 lead.
Four-on-four play started 53 seconds into the third period after a Spartan sat for roughing and Fitzgerald sat for holding. Michigan State rocketed a few shots in on Pulver, but five-on-five play resumed with no goals.
A rough defensive showing by the Badgers had Pulver unable to grab Michigan State’s third goal of the game.
Wisconsin retaliated as sophomore forward Ryan Botterill brought back the Badger’s two goal lead off a quick back hand, beating Augustine glove-side.
30 seconds later, Michigan State hacked away at their deficit to one for a 5-4 game at 10:24. The Spartans pulled Augustine at 18:07, put him back in at 19:30, then pulled him again at 19:45.
Neither team recorded a shot to end the game as Wisconsin ended Michigan State’s nine-game win streak on their home ice.
Overtime battle, Spartans swept
Wisconsin trailed Michigan State statistically on Saturday, but beat them 2-1 in overtime for the series sweep. Pulver started game two after his performance on Friday, ending the night with 32 saves.
The Badgers went on an early power play off a holding call but couldn’t sneak one past Augustine.
Wisconsin had a rough first period, only recording four shots in seven minutes as Michigan State kept the Badger defense on their toes mid-way through the first.
The second period was a game of back-and-forth before Montgomery put Wisconsin on the board at 10:06. Following a tripping call, Montgomery ripped in a power play goal over Augustine’s right shoulder.
The Badgers kept the Spartans scoreless headed into the third period.
Four minutes in, Michigan State sat two minutes for tripping. 20 seconds later, Zelenov sat two for interference and eliminated Wisconsin’s man-advantage. Neither team could capitalize on four-on-four play, and the Spartans only amassed one shot during their short power play.
After a delayed cross-checking penalty, Hastings pulled Pulver for an extra attacker, but the Badgers couldn’t get a shot in those 10 seconds before the Spartans regained control of the puck.
Wisconsin fired shots at Augustine during their man-advantage, but couldn’t up their lead.
At 15:13, Michigan State went down a man for an interference penalty. At 16:07, Michigan State senior forward Daniel Russell was assessed a 10-minute misconduct.
The interference penalty ended with no Wisconsin goal and Augustine was pulled at 17:51. The Badgers took a time out, but the Spartans held control of Wisconsin’s defensive zone.
Senior forward Jack Horbach sat two minutes for delay of game, but seconds later Augustine was pulled once again for an extra attacker on their power play. With 39 seconds to go and chaos behind the net, Pulver couldn’t grab the puck as it popped out from behind the net and was flipped in.
A slow start to three-on-three overtime ended at 2:36 when senior defenseman and captain Ben Dexheimer scored the overtime winner.
Fitzgerald and Dexheimer took the puck up the ice on a two-on-two where Dexheimer grabbed Fitzgerald’s pass from the left side of the ice. While falling, and with a defender on his heels, Dexheimer pushed the push in and slid into the boards with the Spartan.
A shocked Michigan State crowd watched as Wisconsin upset the top team in the nation for the second night in a row.
After a week off, Wisconsin heads back on the road to face Notre Dame 6 p.m. Friday in South Bend, Indiana in another Big Ten battle.
