The game officially is ruled a 2-2 tie, with MSU earning one point in the conference standings and Ohio State (14-9-2, 4-5-2-1) earning two.

The shootout went five rounds, with sophomore forward Michael Ferrantino scoring the lone Spartan shootout goal.

Ohio State junior forward Tanner Fritz had the game winning shootout goal for the Buckeyes.

Ohio State used two goals in the final 1:34, the second with 1.7 seconds left in the game, to send the game to overtime. Both goals came on the power play, with the Buckeyes also pulling its goalie to create a six-on-four skater advantage.

Fritz had the first goal, shooting the puck from just between the faceoff circles, with it hitting the inside of the post before going in. Senior forward Alex Szczechura scored the second Buckeye goal on a mad scramble in front of the net.

The goal was reviewed but upheld sending the game to overtime.

Freshman forward Joe Cox and junior forward Matt Berry were the two Spartans who were in the penalty box for the late Buckeye goals.

Head coach Tom Anastos said he hadn’t gone through the tape yet but didn’t think the penalties came from a lack of discipline but rather playing hard.

Anastos said MSU failed to complete the final 60 minutes, ultimately paying the price of leaving two points on the table.

“We didn’t obviously play a full 60 minutes,” Anastos said. “I thought we were managing the game pretty successfully and those late penalties put us in a tough spot when you’re killing penalties at that point of the game when they can get their goalie out.”

Before the first Ohio State goal, senior forward Greg Wolfe shot at the empty net from just past the Spartan blueline, missing the net by inches. Wolfe said the game could have been won on that play, but sometimes the bounces go against you.

“We had it won basically, I had a chance with the empty net with two minutes left and it bounced wide,” Wolf said. “That’s the game if it goes in, so that’s one way to look at it, a game of inches, a game of seconds and tonight they got a couple bounces.”

Senior forward Lee Reimer and Wolfe had the two Spartan goals. Reimer scored in the second period and Wolfe in the third.

The first period was uptempo with plenty of scoring chances for both teams, but remained scoreless. Sophomore goaltender Jake Hildebrand came up big on an Ohio State two-on-one, and was lucky on another with the right post keeping the game a scoreless tie.

Anastos said he felt MSU surrendered too many odd man rushes in the first period, and Hildebrand came up big to keep the game tied heading into the first intermission.

The scoreless tie finally was broke 7:44 into the second period, on a Reimer one-timer goal. Sophomore forward Ryan Keller helped dig the puck out of the corner, with Wolfe finding the open Reimer in front of the net to give MSU the one-goal lead.

Keller had missed the prior six games because of a concussion.

The Reimer goal would end up as the only goal in the second period. With Reimer’s goal, it was the third time this season MSU took a one-goal lead against Ohio State into the third period. It also was the second straight time MSU kept the Big Ten’s top offense scoreless through two periods.

Wolfe would score what appeared to be the game clinching goal with 11:41 left in the third period.

Freshman forward Thomas Ebbing tipped the puck out of the Spartan defensive zone, setting up a two-on-one with Wolfe and freshman forward Mackenzie MacEachern.

Wolfe slowly skated in, electing to shoot instead of pass, riffling a wrist shot into the upper right corner.

Hildebrand finished with 40 saves, keeping the Big Ten’s best offense scoreless for the first 58 plus minutes of the game.

When asked of the positives of keeping the top tier Buckeye off the scoreboard for the first 58 minutes, Hildebrand said the team played solid but couldn’t complete the job.

“We played a great first 58 minutes and just not enough tonight,” Hildebrand said.

MSU returns to the ice tomorrow afternoon at 4 p.m. for the second-leg of the home series against Ohio State.