Bowling Green, Ohio - The MSU hockey team used two offensive bursts - one early in the first period and one late in the second - to distance itself from 11th-place Bowling Green on Saturday night at BGSU Ice Arena.
Five different Spartans had at least two points in the 6-3 win.
The contest was the Spartans' only action of the weekend, but the two points they earned were enough to stay in fourth place in the CCHA. MSU is four points behind Michigan, five behind Ohio State and eight behind Ferris State.
On Saturday, sophomore goaltender Matt Migliaccio was solid in net for MSU (16-10-2 overall, 12-7-1 CCHA), making 25 saves .
MSU and Bowling Green (7-17-2, 4-14-2) played earlier this season - on Nov. 22 - a game that the Falcons won in overtime, 3-2. Falcon goalie Jordan Sigalet was fantastic in that contest, but he was much more vulnerable Saturday. He made 30 saves.
"In the first two periods, I thought we could have had 10 or 12 (goals)," MSU head coach Rick Comley said. "I thought Sigalet was outstanding. I also thought we played very well. When you score first on the road, it takes all kinds of pressure off you."
The Spartans went up 2-0 in the first six minutes of the game, and they made that lead stand up for more than a period and half.
Sophomore center Jim Slater initiated the scoring with a short-handed tally 1:41 into the game. He cleanly swiped the puck from a Falcon defenseman in the slot, skated in alone and beat Sigalet stick-side for his ninth goal of the year.
Less than four minutes later, senior defenseman John-Michael Liles also exposed Sigalet's stick-side. Liles ripped a shot from the top of the slot that eluded Sigalet's blocker three seconds after an MSU power play expired. The goal was Liles' 11th of the season.
"It was the only game this weekend, so we were able to come out fresh," freshman left wing David Booth said. "We took it to them really strong right off the bat. We got two quick goals and that put kind of a hamper on them."
Bowling Green put a scare into Comley's squad when right wing Roger Leonard scored at 12:44 of the second to cut the deficit to 2-1. Leonard redirected defenseman Brian Escobedo's pass under Migliaccio's stick at the left of the crease.
But the Falcons only could hang around for about three minutes before MSU seized control of the game for good. Sophomore right wing Mike Lalonde, sophomore left wing Kevin Estrada and senior defenseman Brad Fast each tallied within a span of 2:21 to put MSU up 5-1.
Lalonde scored on the power play at 15:31, as Fast's pass deflected off Booth right to Lalonde just outside the crease. From there, he simply banged it into the open net for his 11th goal of the year.
Estrada was next, booming a slap shot that bounced out of Sigalet's glove and rolled over the goal line at 16:03.
"I took a shot where, at worst, we could have gotten a rebound," Estrada said. "I ended up catching him, and it just went in."
Fast then finished off a 4-on-2 rush by beating Sigalet high, glove-side with a wrister from the slot at 17:52. Lalonde set up the play with a nifty drop past to Fast, who was trailing the play. Fast has 10 goals this season.
Falcon right wing Mike Falk scored 1:24 into the third period, and center Ryan Minnabarriet tallied at 16:26 to make it 5-3, but MSU never seemed to be in danger of losing its lead.
Senior left wing Brian Maloney recorded an empty-net goal with 46 seconds remaining to seal the win. The Spartans, who have been on fire on the power play since Christmas, went 1-for-4 on Saturday.
The Falcons were 0-for-4, but their man-advantage performance was even worse than that. The Spartans had no fewer than four superb short-handed chances in the game, including two breakaways by Slater.
MSU's next action is a home-and-home series against archrival U-M next weekend.
The teams play in Ann Arbor on Friday and at Munn Ice Arena the next night.
Personnel: MSU went with the same lineup as last Saturday, meaning freshman right wing Chad Hontvet was in and freshman right wing Nenad Gajic was out. Gajic was in the stands for Saturday's game, and he said Comley assured him that he will be back in the lineup against the Wolverines.
Injury news: Junior defenseman Joe Markusen was checked from behind into the boards midway through the third period. Comley said the player might have suffered a concussion, but there has been no official diagnosis.
