The loss on Friday was the first against U-M at Munn Ice Arena since March 13, 2010.

The weekend result comes a week after MSU swept Penn State at home for its first-ever wins in Big Ten conference play.

The wins came from improved offense and defense.

MSU played tough on Thursday at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, tying the game early in the third period on a goal by sophomore forward Michael Ferrantino.

The game appeared to be heading into overtime, but with a little more than two minutes left, U-M junior forward Phil Di Giuseppe put a rebound past sophomore goaltender Jake Hildebrand to give the Wolverines the win.

The following night started off on a better foot for the Spartans, who took a first-period lead and entered the third period tied at 2.

However, MSU let its guard down and the floodgates opened, washing away any chance of a Spartan victory. MSU gave up three third-period goals, including two within a 51-second span.

Although it appeared on the scoreboard and to many spectators that the only true bad period of the weekend came during the three-goal-third, head coach Tom Anastos said he wasn’t impressed with his team’s play all game Friday.

He said he was disappointed with the team’s preparation and lack of urgency against the in-state rival.

“What bothers me most is to know you are playing your biggest rival at home in front of a great crowd who’s energized, who’s bringing everything they can to help you, and I just don’t feel everyone was ready, and I don’t know how that could possibly happen,” Anastos aid. “I don’t know how you can’t be ready to play unless you don’t realize the magnitude of what you’re doing.”

Ferrantino finished the weekend with two goals and one assist.

Despite having a helping hand on all three Spartan goals in the two games, he said there were no positives from the weekend sweep.

“They wanted it more than we did, that’s the bottom line,” Ferrantino said. “Makes me pretty sick to even say that, but I don’t know how they come in here and we weren’t ready for them. So that’s something we need to figure out and we need to get better at.”

MSU did show progress on the power play, scoring two goals on Friday.

Senior forward Greg Wolfe said the power play unit moved the puck around well and were able to get more shots to the net.

MSU will have a couple more cracks at the maize and blue on March 7 and 8, with the first in Ann Arbor and the second back in East Lansing.

MSU now is 1-2-0 in the season series against the Wolverines.