The victory was a result of the Spartans outworking the Nanooks, head coach Rick Comley said.

“There has to be some reward for hard work,” Comley said. “(Alaska) didn’t have quite the same jump tonight.”

The game started similar in style to Friday night’s defensive 1-1 battle and Alaska capitalized 15:08 into the first with a goal from forward Jarret Granberg when he deflected a shot from forward Kevin Petovello into the net.

The Nanook defense, led by stout goalie Scott Greenham kept the Spartans off the board until 6:23 into the second when junior forward Daultan Levielle flipped a puck from freshman defenseman Jake Chelios past Greenham.

Sophomore defenseman Torey Krug rocketed a slap shot from the point into the net on a power play 9:35 into the second. Senior forward Dustin Gazley and sophomore defenseman Matt Grassi assisted on the goal.

Goals from the defense come from patience, especially when the forwards aren’t scoring, Krug said.

“Anytime you get secondary offense from your defense is huge,” he said. “It really helps your team out. It’s just patience and patience.”

The Spartans outshot the Nanooks 18-1 in the second period and spent most of the time in the Alaskan zone.

MSU caught a break when Alaska forward Ryan Hohl received a five minute game misconduct penalty resulting in an ejection. MSU scored its second power play goal of the night 10:46 into the third when junior defenseman Brock Shelgren scored his second goal of the season.

Shelgren’s goal gave the Spartans two power play goals in six chances for the game.

After going more than a year between scoring, Shelgren has two goals in two series, a stat he attributes to a comfort level with his linemate, junior Matt Crandell.

“Playing with Crandell, together we’ve established a comfort level,” Shelgren said. “Also, this offseason I wanted to work on my shot.”

Chelios scored on yet another slap shot from the point 17:01 into the third.

The goal was Chelios’ first of his collegiate career. Chelios said his dad, former Detroit Red Wing Chris Chelios, gave him a hard time for his celebration after the goal.

“The goal definitely was a surprise, I didn’t even know it went in at first,” Chelios said. “It’s awesome to get it out of the way this early in the season, it’s probably the toughest goal.

“I get a little too excited when I score, but if I’m going to score, I’m going to celebrate.”

Comley said it was the best game the team has played so far this season.

“They worked so hard,” Comley said. “Their goalie played out of this world. I thought we played really well.”

For a young team, a win is the best thing in the world, Comley said.

“Every win feels so good, everyone is so darn even right now,” he said. “I’m happy for these guys, I want them to leave on a Saturday feeling good and looking forward to coming back on Monday.”