Bowling Green, Ohio - MSU head coach Rick Comley had a feeling Bowling Green's power-play scheme would crumble under constant stress.
So on Saturday, Comley threw everything in his penalty-killing arsenal at the Falcons.
The Spartans forechecked aggressively, pressed the Falcons through the neutral zone and harassed the Bowling Green power-play unit around the offensive zone en route to a 6-3 win at BGSU Ice Arena.
"We felt they were vulnerable to pressure," Comley said. "Their power play has looked good - that's why they beat (Nebraska-Omaha last Friday), but we practiced hard against it.
"They have been generating good chances off of it, but they didn't get much off it tonight."
Not only did the Spartans hold the Falcons (7-17-2 overall, 4-14-2 CCHA) scoreless on their four power plays, but MSU (16-10-2, 12-7-1) also generated at least four first-rate offensive chances, while playing short-handed.
Sophomore center Jim Slater was the primary short-handed menace, streaking in on two short-handed breakaways. He scored on the first one - after robbing a Falcon defenseman of the puck while forechecking - to give the Spartans a 1-0 lead just 1:41 into the game.
"We watched a lot of video on their power play, and we knew exactly what they were going to try to do," Slater said. "We were just trying to get everything out of the zone, and it worked out real well.
"On the second breakaway, I saw (Falcon goaltender Jordan Sigalet) was going to poke-check me, so I tried to pull it to my backhand and throw it five-hole because it's usually wide open. But he made a great poke-check and made me look like an idiot out there."
Aside from Slater, senior left wing Brian Maloney and sophomore right wing Mike Lalonde both had excellent short-handed chances as well. Although Sigalet stopped both of their shots, the goalie couldn't keep Maloney and Lalonde off the scoresheet for long.
Lalonde's 11th goal of the year started a Spartan outburst that netted three goals during a span of 2:21 in the second period.
Bowling Green had cut MSU's lead to 2-1, but Lalonde, sophomore left wing Kevin Estrada and senior defenseman Brad Fast scored back-to-back-to-back goals to alleviate the pressure.
Maloney later capped the game with an empty-net goal, giving him seven tallies in the last seven games.
Sophomore goaltender Matt Migliaccio stopped 25 shots for the win. He was the major beneficiary of MSU's staunch penalty killing, as he was rarely tested by the Falcon power play.
Saturday's penalty-killing effort was MSU's best in a long time. The Spartans have led the nation in that category the past two seasons - with kill rates of 90.5 percent last year and 91.1 percent in 2000-01. But this season, they are seventh in the CCHA at 81.1 percent.
"We're getting the bounces now," Estrada said. "We weren't getting them before Christmas, but we're getting them now. The hockey gods were with us."
The win over the Falcons kept MSU in fourth place in the CCHA standings, but the Spartans still lost ground to the top three teams. First-place Ferris State, second-place Ohio State and third-place Michigan all swept two-game series this weekend.
The Spartans play U-M in a home-and-home series this weekend, starting Friday night in Ann Arbor. The Wolverines are four points ahead of MSU in the league race, meaning a Spartan sweep would pull the teams even.
"If we play well, we can play with them," said Comley, who watched U-M beat Northern Michigan on Friday at Yost Ice Arena. They have great speed. It's going to be a great weekend."
On Saturday, junior defenseman Joe Markusen was hit from behind into the boards early in the third period.
Frustrated that referee Steve Piotrowski didn't call a penalty on the hit, Markusen slammed his stick into the boards and then fired the broken remains down the ice.
Comley said the player "probably" suffered a concussion, but his status for the U-M series hasn't been determined.
