But after blowing a 5-4 lead with less than a minute to play on Friday, Anastos was left wondering what could have been.

“(I) was walking across the ice to come over here (to address the media) thinking, ‘Gosh, we were 30-some seconds away.’ But you’ve got to look ahead,” Anastos said following Saturday’s game. “Miami was real good, Northern Michigan is real good. So I think what we should do, and I told the guys, ‘Enjoy this tonight because starting (Monday) we’ve got to prepare for Lake Superior, and they’re real good, and they beat us twice.’”

The series improves MSU’s season record to 12-9-3 with a CCHA mark of 7-7-2 with 12 conference games left to play. With their eighth place position in the CCHA, the Spartans have only four points separating them and No. 3 Michigan, which is what makes the tie with NMU so costly.

After starting out on the right side of a seven combined goal first period, the Spartans were looking to ice a 5-4 lead and come away with the win on Friday late in the third. However, with 13.2 seconds to play, Wildcat captain Scott Macaulay beat senior goalie Drew Palmisano for a goal — MSU’s third goal allowed in the game with less than a minute to play — to tie up the game and force overtime.

The game would go to a shootout after a scoreless overtime. In the shootout, freshman forward Matt Berry gave his team the go-ahead goal on a backhanded shot to allow the Spartans to escape with two points and the tie.

On Saturday, the Spartans found themselves on the right side of a defensive struggle and got goals from Berry and senior defenseman Brock Shelgren to pick up a 2-1 win before a crowd of 6,200 fans at Munn Ice Arena.

“I had a sour taste in my mouth after last weekend with the loss to Miami,” said sophomore goalie Will Yanakeff, who made 23 saves on Saturday. “I think everyone was excited to play this weekend, and we knew what we had to do coming in, and everyone played great, and, you know, two wins — so that’s good.”

Next up for the Spartans is familiar opponent Lake Superior State. Earlier in the season, the Spartans suffered their first major setback after getting swept by the Lakers in two games in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.

“We had a great opportunity to get six points this weekend, and unfortunately we just couldn’t pull through, and part of that is my fault,” junior defenseman Torey Krug said. “It’s something that we have to take in. It happened in the past. We got five points. Looking forward to this weekend, we have to get six, and that’s just becoming an expectation of the team.”