After a heartbreaking 3-1 loss to No. 2 Wisconsin on Friday night, the No. 18 MSU hockey team bounced back to tie No. 7 Minnesota, 2-2, Saturday at Munn Ice Arena in the final game of the College Hockey Showcase.
Even with the tie, though, the Spartans' winless streak was extended to eight games.
"It's been three or four weeks now that we've struggled," MSU head coach Rick Comley said. "We have to get back to where we think we can be. I think we're starting to get our game back and that's encouraging."
After allowing three third-period goals on Friday, the Spartans (5-6-4) didn't get off to the a great start Saturday as Minnesota forward Danny Irmen scored his first goal of the season just over a minute into the contest. The shot somehow made it through the wickets of junior goaltender Dominic Vicari and over the goal line.
The Spartans were able to tie the game about 10 minutes later when freshman forward Tim Crowder redirected senior defenseman Jared Nightingale's point shot into the goal. Freshman forward Justin Abdelkader also assisted.
The tie would not last long as Irmen scored his second goal of the game nearly four minutes later off a faceoff. His shot fluttered through a crowd and past a motionless Vicari to give the Golden Gophers (7-3-4) a 2-1 edge. Forward Phil Kessel picked up his second assist of the night on the goal.
"Dom struggled on the first shot and had really bad luck on the second and all of a sudden you wonder what in the world is going on, but we battled back," Comley said.
MSU evened the score just 21 seconds later when junior forward Tyler Howells drove hard to the net and knocked in the rebound of senior forward Colton Fretter's shot. Senior forward David Booth also picked up an assist.
But after that flurry, the game would slow down and see both teams pull back, as the rest of the game went scoreless.
Vicari, for one, was happy to see the pace fall after allowing the two strange first period goals.
"I thought it was going to be one of those nights again where everything seems to go wrong," he said. "You just have to put it behind you. You have to be like a goldfish, have that short memory. You can't worry about it."
The remainder of the game did not go without chances, though.
With the Spartans on the power play in overtime, Fretter took a centering pass out in front of Minnesota goaltender Jeff Frazee but was stoned by Frazee's quick glove hand, a play that ended up cementing the tie. Frazee finished the night with 27 saves.
"When Fretter shot it, I thought he put it in," Vicari said. "It's kind of hard to see from down where I'm at. I was just looking for that red light to come on and I never got to see it."
Vicari stopped 32 shots en route to being named No. 1 star of the night.
"He battled back hard and played a tremendous game for us," junior captain Drew Miller said. "He gave us a chance to win the game. He made some big saves. It's always good to have a goalie in net who can make big saves because that's what you need in a game like this."
Despite only taking one of four possible points in the Showcase, the Spartans say there are positives to be derived from the weekend.
MSU did not allow a power play goal in the two games after Comley decided to change things up a little. The Spartans' penalty kill had been struggling, allowing 16 goals in 13 games coming into the weekend.
"I spent a lot of time putting files together, looking at things because our penalty killing has been the worst in the country maybe," Comley said. "We've been caught between pressuring and not pressuring and we've completely changed what we were doing with our forwards and we just took away shots."
The Spartans head back to conference play this weekend with a pair of games against Bowling Green, the first coming at 7:05 p.m. Friday at Munn Ice Arena.
