In Friday night’s 1-1 tie and shootout victory, the Spartans gave up a heartbreaking tying goal with 10.7 seconds left in the game.

But there were no heartbreaks to be had on this Valentines Day for the Spartans – as they were able to hold onto the one goal lead and earn the much-needed two points.

“It’s one of those weekends where you go, ‘oh boy can we even get a point?” MSU head coach Rick Comley said.

“Then all of a sudden, they score with 10 seconds to go (Friday) but you win the shootout. So you are saying, ‘are we satisfied or will we come back hard and is there that belief that we are getting better?’ We were very business like as the game went on (Saturday), and we probably played as good or better as we did on Friday.”

MSU senior goaltender Jeff Lerg said the weekend series was huge for the psyche of the team.

“We’ve been kicked down all year and have had negative after negative pile up on us,” Lerg said. “I said it last week, we aren’t going down without a fight. These guys are still fighting and we know this is our team right now and we aren’t going to get anyone back. These guys are taking advantage of it.”

For the fifth straight game, the Spartans (9-18-5 overall, 6-14-4-3 CCHA) scored first.

This time it was sophomore forward Joey Shean who recorded his second career goal at 4:24 of the first period. Shean found space in the right faceoff circle and fired a quick wrist shot from the right circle over the right shoulder of Ohio State goaltender Dustin Carlson.

But the Buckeyes notched the game back at 1-1 just over a minute into the second period with a low point shot that made its way through traffic and past Lerg to the far-post.

Despite allowing an early goal in the second period the Spartans kept pressing and at 4:52 of the second period it appeared the Green and White took the lead.

Senior defenseman Brandon Gentile took a slap shot from the point and freshman forward Brett Perlini got his stick on the puck to deflect it past Carlson, but the referees immediately called it no goal, as they deemed Perlini’s stick over the crossbar when the puck hit it.

Comley said the goal should have counted and that it was “clearly not a high stick.”

With just over a minute left in the second period, the Spartans lit the lamp and the horn sounded, but MSU was again robbed of a goal.

Sophomore forward Dustin Gazley flew into the Buckeyes zone and found the puck in the high slot. However, before he could get a shot off, he was dumped from behind and lost control the puck.

Gazley quickly got up, and went over to the right boards and dished out a big hit. He got low and sent the Buckeyes player flying overtop of him head over heels. Gazley then passed the puck to the front of the net where a Spartan teammate tapped it in.

But the moment Gazley touched the puck, the referee blew his whistle and assessed Gazley a two minute penalty for clipping.

With 11:16 remaining in the third period, the Spartans had a golden opportunity to take the lead. They were awarded a full two minute 5-on-3 after freshman forward Daultan Leveille was hit from behind and Gazley was hooked a moment later.

The Spartans were unable to convert on the 5-on-3 and also on the five minute major penalty assessed for the hit from behind.

But when the Buckeyes took another penalty at 15:15, sophomore defenseman Jeff Petry broke the deadlock.

Petry received a pass from freshman defenseman Matt Crandell and he skated to his right and unleashed a rifle of shot that beat Carlson low.

“I don’t think the goalie saw it and it went five-hole,” Petry said. “I thought I was moving my feet to get around and get an open lane. It feels good to finally get one through and get some confidence back.”

As the clock winded down, the Buckeyes threw everything they had at the Spartans.

But Lerg, and the Spartans defense, held strong and didn’t make the mistake of giving up another late goal.

“We had another faceoff in our own zone late in the game and we prevented them from getting a shot on net,” Lerg said. “It was a real big positive that we learned from last night. That’s the type of thing we need in the playoffs.”