“It was a good feeling for the guys. We need some positive feelings to come back to this rink so we can keep fighting toward the playoffs.”

While the fight song rang out in the locker room, it didn’t echo through the halls like it might have in the past — mainly because there are fewer bodies than ever in the Spartans locker room.

The Spartans (9-18-5 overall, 6-14-4-3 CCHA) have been beat up physically and mentally this season and the numbers have become so slim that MSU head coach Rick Comley doesn’t have enough bodies to dress a full fourth line.

“This was a really depleted lineup,” Comley said. “But it’s reinforcement. All of a sudden you get two wins against a nationally ranked team and a team in the top four in your league and you get excited for another week.”

Despite the low numbers, the rough and tough Spartans found a way to hold the nation’s fifth-ranked offense, which averaged 3.57 goals a game entering the weekend, to two goals in the series and held the Buckeyes to 0-for-9 on the power play.

Lerg thought his team’s weekend performance was the best of the season — much to the credit of what he called a “gritty” style of play.

“We are starting to fight back,” Lerg said. “You need a positive here or there to keep you in the right mental state and that’s what happened this weekend and actually the last couple weekends.”

With everyone logging unusually large loads of ice time, the Spartans’ legs were heavy on Saturday night.

But MSU dug deep, building off the crowd’s energy to put forth a stingy defensive effort by closing down passing lanes, clogging the neutral zone and blocking 23 shots.

Backstopping the defense was Lerg, who stopped 69 shots on the weekend.

Lerg made outstanding save after outstanding save during the course of the weekend, with what he called his best save of the season coming with 3:18 left in the second period Saturday to keep the game tied at one.

Lerg was interfered with to the right of the crease and somehow slid to his left and stacked his pads. A Buckeye forward ripped a quick snap shot, but Lerg sprawled over and whipped his glove up in the air at the perfect time to snag the puck in the webbing.

“That was a game-changer at that point,” Lerg said. “I’m happy our team had a chance to keep that game close late.”

Lerg’s heroics gave the Spartans an opportunity to take the lead in the third period — an opportunity MSU seemed to spoil after failing to convert on a full two-minute 5-on-3 at 8:44.

But the Spartans again found themselves on the power play at 15:15 in the third period and sophomore defenseman Jeff Petry made the Buckeyes pay.

Petry ripped a slap shot from the right point that made its way through traffic and through the legs of Ohio State goaltender Dustin Carlson.

“It’s upsetting that it was a power-play goal, but they scored it and you have to give them credit,” Ohio State head coach John Markell said.

“We took some dumb penalties that didn’t give us any jump and it cost us again this weekend. MSU is playing well right now and they are going to be a tough team to play in the playoffs.”

The other two goals on the weekend for the Spartans came from two unlikely characters — sophomore forward Joey Shean scored the first goal on Saturday and freshman forward Brett Perlini scored the lone goal on Friday night, his first collegiate tally.

Comley said if the Spartans are going to extend their recent success, everyone on the ice is going to have to contribute.

“If we are going to win games, guys who maybe couldn’t play early in the year are going to have to step up and find a way to score,” Comley said.

Freshman forward Ben Warda said the Spartans-up-against-the-world mentality is at the core of their four-game unbeaten streak.

“We are a better team than second to last in the CCHA and we have to prove it,” Warda said.