But for MSU head coach Tom Anastos, the formula for the loss comes in his team not generating enough offense down the stretch. The first year head coach often has said the magic number for his team is three goals and success comes in being the first team to reach that plateau.

“I guess I didn’t think of it; it’s very coincidental (how similar the two games are),” Anastos said. “I’d have liked to have more goals than two.”

In emphasizing the importance of winning the race to three goals, Anastos might be on to something. The Spartans now are 1-9-1 this season when scoring two goals or fewer and 15-3-3 when scoring three goals or more.

The loss to the Wolverines draws immediate comparisons to the loss the Spartans suffered in the GLI, and it will hurt just as much in the CCHA playoff race.

With four regular season games left to play, the Spartans drop to a tie for fifth in the conference standings with Lake Superior State.

Although there is bitterness in the similarity between the last two losses suffered to U-M, the Spartans still picked up four points with a win and an overtime loss this weekend, and Anastos said there were many aspects of his team’s performance that he was happy with.

“Well what I told our team afterwards is that if we’re able to get ourselves in a situation where you play one and done hockey, you can’t let up for a minute,” Anastos said.

“I’m not into moral victories, but you have to learn things from losing too. So we’ll take some thing away and spin them for awhile for sure. But it’s also hard to win two-consecutive games against a good team. They’re a good team.”