The No. 13 Spartans knocked one thing off their to-do list by guaranteeing themselves a fourth-place conference finish and clinching a first-round playoff bye with Friday's 5-3 win at Bowling Green. But with Saturday's 2-1 loss at Munn Ice Arena on Senior Night, MSU isn't any closer to receiving an NCAA Tournament bid.
"Obviously, now we have to win the CCHA Tournament in order to make the NCAA Tournament, but talk is useless right now," MSU head coach Rick Comley said.
"We're not a great team; we've known that all along. This team has actually accomplished a decent amount and then stumbled these last couple weeks. Now can they get it back? I don't know."
Because the Falcons (7-27-2 overall, 5-22-1 CCHA) are last in the CCHA standings, the loss will affect the Spartans' (19-12-3, 15-10-3) PairWise ranking, which is USCHO.com's model predictor of how the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee selects its teams based on wins, strength of schedule and other categories.
MSU ended the weekend in a four-way tie for 15th in the PairWise with St. Lawrence, Vermont and Massachusetts. Sixteen teams receive invites to the NCAA Tournament.
The Spartans didn't make earning an invitation to the NCAA Tournament any easier with Saturday's 2-1 loss. MSU has now lost four of its last five games.
"We acted like the game meant nothing," senior captain Chris Lawrence said. "We are probably going to take a big hit for this.
"We're not learning our lesson. That's four out of five games, and that could come back to hurt us in the end."
MSU failed to capitalize on six power plays Saturday. Bowling Green owns the worst penalty-kill unit in the CCHA.
"You say how did you lose the game," Comley said. "Well, you created a lot of power plays, but you didn't do anything with them. This was the worst penalty-killing team in the league. I wouldn't give good grades to anything right now."
Friday's offensive outburst, on the other hand, was the first time MSU scored more than three goals in one game since its 5-1 win over Nebraska-Omaha on Feb. 2. All five goals were scored by different players Friday, and each line contributed a goal.
"Some guys scored that needed to get the monkey off of their back," Comley said after Friday's game.
Senior defenseman Chris Snavely scored the game-winning goal 4:10 into the third period.
Snavely banged his stick on the ice calling for the puck as he moved into position for the goal.
"It was a great play by Chris Lawrence," Snavely said. "I was wide open in the slot, and Chris hit me with a great pass. I buried my head, and it went in."
But Friday's play didn't carry over to Saturday. With the first-round playoff bye already in their possession, the Spartans believed they were too content with their situation in the series-closer and came out with less effort.
"You never want your team to be questioned as far as effort goes because effort is No. 1," senior defenseman Ethan Graham said.
"It's a little concerning to have people question your effort, but it's definitely there. I know it's in our team — we just have to pull it out."
