Detroit — The No. 6 Spartans should credit their three points this weekend to sophomore goaltender Jeff Lerg.
Lerg stood tall, stopping 33 shots in Friday's 2-1 overtime victory over Ferris State and stopping a career-high 54 shots in Saturday's 3-3 tie against Michigan at Joe Louis Arena to extend MSU's unbeaten streak to a nation-leading nine games.
"He was excellent," MSU head coach Rick Comley said. "He's been so sharp, hasn't he? He knows when he has to play well; he likes that, he thrives on it and when he comes off, he's got a smile on his face."
Although the Spartans (18-8-3 overall, 14-6-3 CCHA) proclaimed throughout the week that their focus centered on Friday's Ferris State (9-19-3, 6-15-2) game and not a rivalry matchup Saturday against U-M, it didn't seem that way.
Ferris State struck first against a sluggish Spartans power-play unit, when forward Matt Verdone scored shorthanded 10:11 into the second period.
The Ferris State goal sparked the Spartans, which led to sophomore forward Justin Abdelkader's game-tying power-play goal later in the second.
"We didn't think the team was really as ready as they should have been," junior forward Bryan Lerg said.
"We didn't really start playing until they scored. That's when we said, 'Oh, no, we better get it going.'"
The game had a familiar ending when Bryan Lerg scored his nation-leading, eighth game-winning goal 1:26 into the overtime period.
"I saw (senior captain) Chris (Lawrence) look up at me, and we made eye contact," Lerg said. "Right when he threw it, it was actually behind me, so I stopped it with my backhand, turned around and just put it on net and prayed."
Still, the night belonged to Jeff Lerg and his 33 saves.
And it was the same Saturday night.
Looking at the box score, three goals allowed doesn't seem remarkable. But a .947 save-percentage does.
"I like a little more shots during the game," Jeff Lerg said. "I felt more comfortable as the game went on. My confidence grows a little bit."
MSU got goals from Abdelkader and Bryan Lerg to go up 2-0 in the first period.
Abdelkader added a shorthanded goal in the second period to make it 3-0, but the tone of the game quickly shifted.
U-M forward Chris Summers scored a power-play goal midway through the second to cut the lead to 3-1.
After the Summers goal, the Spartans defense resembled a green and white colander, as the Wolverines used their speed to flow through the MSU defense for quality scoring chances.
"When people are coming at you at that speed, you get tired," Comley said. "We had a lot of guys get tired.
"This was Michigan at its best, and I thought they were outstanding."
Summers added his second goal of the night less than two minutes into the third period to make it a one-goal game.
With just less than two minutes remaining, all the Spartans had to do was win a faceoff in their own defensive zone and then control the puck.
They won the faceoff.
They didn't control the puck.
MSU won the draw and sent the puck behind the MSU net, where it was picked up by Summers. Summers then passed to forward Andrew Cogliano for the game-tying goal with 1:51 left in regulation time.
"It was just a really good play off the faceoff there," Jeff Lerg said.
"I didn't think he was as far away from me as I thought. I thought he was a little bit closer to me, so I didn't really get out as far, but he made a real nice shot real quick right on the far side."
Even though the Spartans walked away with one point instead of two, Comley was more than proud of his team's effort.
"The thing that you have to remember is we're sitting in that locker room getting outshot that bad and still come out of here with a point," Comley said.
"This was not a national championship game. It was another game where we didn't hurt ourselves."
MSU resumes play Tuesday in Big Rapids against Ferris State.
