Freshman forward Derek Grant and Ohio State forward Patrick Schafer keep their eyes on the goal during a collision in the first period Saturday at Munn Ice Arena. MSU went on to lose to Ohio State 4-2.
The No. 10 MSU hockey team can sum up its weekend series against Ohio State in one word — disappointing.
Although Friday’s 5-2 win was solid, the Spartans allowed a game-winning goal on Saturday with 1:07 remaining in regulation on a wrap-around that could have been prevented.
The Buckeyes tacked on an empty-net goal en route to a 4-2 victory and weekend split.
With sophomore goaltender Drew Palmisano playing at the top of his game and the Spartans tying the game midway through the third period, it seemed Saturday’s game was destined for overtime.
But Ohio State’s Patrick Schafer put an abrupt end to the Spartans’ hopes of earning at least one crucial point in the conference standings.
“It’s devastating,” junior defenseman and co-captain Jeff Petry said of Saturday’s loss. “I think coming back and tying the game up, we deserved to get some points out of that. But they worked hard down low and got fortunate enough to get one.”
Saturday, the Spartans (16-8-4 overall, 11-5-4 CCHA) allowed three Ohio State goals in the third period.
Despite allowing the late wrap-around goal — which Palmisano undoubtably would like to have back — the Spartans thought their netminder played phenomenal on the weekend, making a season-high 43 saves Saturday and stopping 31 shots Friday.
Palmisano has five straight games with 30-plus saves.
“He played great,” junior forward Dustin Gazley said of Palmisano. “He always stands on his head for us. We need to support him more. He’s always on the top of his game, every single game. We appreciate everything he does for us.”
The theme of the weekend was special teams play. On both Friday and Saturday, 15 total penalties were called. The constant trips to the sin bin made it hard for either team to get anything rolling offensively.
“There were bits and pieces where you could get going,” Petry said. “But it felt like once you got something going, there would be another penalty called.”
Said Gazley: “You can’t blame the refs, but there were calls that shouldn’t have happened that did.”
Saturday’s loss was the first time the Spartans were defeated by a conference foe at Munn Ice Arena (6-1-4). MSU has three home games remaining this season.
“Games are dwindling down and you hate to lose at home,” MSU head coach Rick Comley said. “We know every game is going to be a tough game, but you don’t want to lose at home.”
Because of the abundance of special teams play, Comley said the Spartans “ran out of gas” late in Saturday’s game.
Since MSU’s 2-0 win against Michigan on Nov. 14, the Spartans have gone 1-3-2 in Saturday night games.
Despite the weekend split, the Spartans still sit in second place in the conference standings, but first-place Miami and third-place Ferris State have two games in hand on MSU.
With U-M next on MSU’s schedule, the Spartans were counting on a weekend sweep of the underachieving Buckeyes.
But the post-game message from the Spartans was simple — move on and prepare for the Wolverines.
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“As much as you want to go up to that first-place spot, there’s a long way down if we don’t get it together and correct our mistakes,” Petry said. “We could drop just as fast as we could go up.”
