The Wolverines also beat the Spartans in overtime by the same score more than a month ago in the finale of the Great Lakes Invitational.

The loss drops MSU’s season record to 16-12-4 with a 11-10-3-2 mark in the CCHA, while Michigan improves to 18-10-4 with a conference record of 12-8-4-1.

After jumping to a tie for third place with the Wolverines in the CCHA standings Friday, the loss moves MSU down to a fifth-place tie with Lake Superior State in the conference standings with four games to play.

“Losing sucks no matter how it happens,” head coach Tom Anastos said. “On a good play, a bad play. You just never know. We had chances at the other end and it comes down. I still haven’t seen it, so I don’t know how the puck ended up bouncing that way. It’s a game-losing goal and so it sucks either way.”

On Friday, junior defenseman and captain Torey Krug put the Spartans on his back by spearheading a comeback effort with two goals and an assist to bring MSU back from a 2-0 deficit to get the 3-2 win at Munn Ice Arena.

Saturday, the Wolverines jumped out to a lead midway through the first period on a goal by forward AJ Treais. Treais collected his own rebound in front of the net and sent a sweeping backhand shot to beat sophomore goalie Will Yanakeff on his right side at 12:12 to put U-M on top, 1-0.

Early in the second period, the Spartans got on the board, courtesy of Greg Wolfe. After a failed scoring attempt on a pass from junior forward Kevin Walrod to Wolfe, Walrod tried again and connected with Wolfe on a pass at the point, where Wolfe fired a slap shot past U-M goalie Shawn Hunwick to knot the game at one goal apiece.

Less than three minutes later, senior forward Brett Perlini picked up a pass down low around the net with MSU on the power play and scored on a one-timer from a sharp angle on the right side to give the Spartans the go-ahead goal.

The tally marked the Spartans’ third power play goal in the series, and the team now has recorded a power play goal in its last four games, dating back to the series with Ferris State.

However, the Spartans lead was short-lived. Four minutes after the Perlini goal, Treais found the back of the net on for the third time in the series on a shot that beat Yanakeff on his blocker side to tie the game, 2-2.

Both sides traded shots and momentum in the third period but to no avail, and the teams went to overtime.

Lynch’s goal in overtime came at 1:50 in the extra frame and sent the Wolverines home with a big win on neutral ice.

“Obviously it’s a tough loss, but I liked the way the team battled,” senior forward Trevor Nill said. “I thought it was three great periods of hockey for both sides, and obviously that last bounce didn’t go our way, but I thought we competed throughout the game.”

Six of the last seven matchups between the heated in-state rivals have been played to a one-goal decision, including both of the games this weekend.

The Spartans will close out their regular season home schedule against Alaska next weekend before ending the regular season on the road against Notre Dame.