Kalamazoo - The MSU hockey team is 2-for-2 in terms of spoiling opponents' senior nights this season.
A week after the Spartans pounded Michigan 4-0 on its senior night, MSU sophomore goaltender Matt Migliaccio shut out Western Michigan by the same score in the Broncos' last game of the season at Lawson Arena.
The Spartans (20-13-2 overall, 16-10-1 CCHA) used three first period goals to dispose of the Broncos (15-18-2, 13-13-1) on Friday. Migliaccio made 19 saves to help MSU record its first win in Kalamazoo since 1998.
"We definitely focus on senior nights," Migliaccio said. "You really have to be ready, because their crowd is all fired up.
"I felt great - real confident. Things were hitting the post and hitting my face. Things were going great for me."
The 4-0 victory secures fourth place in the CCHA standings for the Spartans. MSU is two points behind Ohio State, which tied U-M on Friday, with one game to play.
MSU and Western play again at 7:05 p.m. Saturday at Munn Ice Arena. The Spartans' annual Senior Night festivities are slated to start at 6:44 p.m. Seven MSU players and student manager Bill Scott will be honored.
Western is the only team in the CCHA against which the Spartan seniors don't have a winning record. The class is now 2-3-2 against the Broncos.
If MSU wins and OSU loses Saturday, the teams would tie for third place and the Spartans would be the No. 3 seed in the CCHA Tournament because they would have more league wins than the Buckeyes.
On Friday, MSU rolled out its most complete first period of the season. The Spartans notched three goals and took a stranglehold on the game in the first 20 minutes.
Sophomore center Lee Falardeau scored 4:17 into the first, marking his fifth goal in his last five games. To start the play, sophomore forward Brock Radunske rushed the net and took a shot that Foster saved. Falardeau got his stick on the rebound and steered a shot off a Western defenseman's skate and into the net.
Falardeau had just six goals in his first 64 games before his current streak.
"It's just my line," Falardeau said of his grouping with Radunske and senior left wing Brian Maloney. "We're playing really well together. The puck's coming to me. I'm getting shots on net and just burying them."
Freshman right wing Colton Fretter generated the next three quality scoring chances for MSU, and he finally converted at 7:25. Bronco goalie Scott Foster stymied Fretter twice, but Fretter got the last laugh when he tipped senior defenseman Brad Fast's centering pass over Foster's shoulder.
"I just felt really good all night tonight," Fretter said. "A lot of days, I feel like I'm not even on the ice - I don't touch the puck. Today, it seemed like every time I was on the ice, I got to handle the puck, and that's my game."
Fretter's goal prompted Western to call its only timeout and replace Foster with Mike Mantua. Foster made five saves and Mantua, who was sharp in relief, stopped 27 the rest of the way.
The Spartans staked a 3-0 lead on a Maloney goal at 17:47 of the first. The puck was tied up in a scrum for awhile before it squirted behind the net. Mantua started to chase it, but Radunske gained control and fired a centering pass behind the out-of-position goalie.
Maloney was the first to get his stick on it, and he batted it into an open net for his 14th goal of the year.
MSU seemed to win almost every one-on-one battle against the Broncos throughout Friday's penalty-free first period.
"We played very, very well in the first," MSU head coach Rick Comley said. "The first 20 (minutes) on the road is always big.
"(The Broncos) never quit playing, they came back at us. That sets up a good game for tomorrow."
Both goalies shined in the scoreless second period, but Migliaccio caught a break on the best scoring chance of the frame. Bronco left wing Pat Dwyer, last season's CCHA Rookie of the Year, had a clean breakaway late in the period, but he lost the puck off his backhand and never even got a shot on net.
Fretter added a power-play goal - his sixth marker of the year - with 1:18 left in the game to account for the final margin.
Western hit the post twice in the third period, but never found the net behind Migliaccio.
Spartan sophomore center Jim Slater returned to MSU's lineup Friday after a missing two games with a left shoulder injury. However, he was noticeably tentative, especially on defense.
MSU went 1-for-3 on the power play Friday, while the Broncos were 0-for-2.
Personnel: Although Slater returned to the lineup, only MSU's second line returned to its pre-injury form.
Freshman left wing David Booth was demoted from the top line to the third line, while sophomore Mike Lalonde was moved from right wing to left wing. Freshman Nenad Gajic moved up to play right wing on the top line with Lalonde and Slater.
Booth played with sophomore center Ash Goldie and Fretter on the third line.
Sophomore Kevin Estrada was moved from third-line left wing to fourth-line right wing. He primarily played with junior Tim Hearon at left wing and senior Troy Ferguson at center, but also took some shifts on the top line.
