Niagara took the ice looking for revenge after a come-from-behind win by MSU just 24 hours earlier, managing a shorthanded goal on junior goaltender Will Yanakeff less than five minutes into the first period.

Niagara finished the first period 1-0 — just like Friday’s game.
In the second period, sophomore defenseman RJ Boyd received a roughing penalty, allowing Niagara a powerplay goal.

MSU sophomore forward Matt Berry and freshman defenseman Rhett Holland received five minute majors and game ejections.

“Anytime you take two five minute penalties at the end of the second period, it’s going to hurt a team, demoralize them,” sophomore forward Brent Darnell said. “But we stuck with it, killed all those off and got back to work there. After we killed all those, I think it was a real boost to our team and I think we just took off from there.”

Niagara also got charged with a penalty, starting the third period with four-on-four play.

Niagara finished the second period 2-0 — just like Friday’s game.
And to follow the trend of the series, MSU netted two in the third period to tie up the game.

The first came from junior forward and captain Greg Wolfe, followed by freshman forward Matt DeBlouw, picking up his first collegiate goal.

“Scoring hasn’t been easy for us, even dating back to last year,” head coach Tom Anastos said. “I thought their goaltender made some really nice stops. We had tons of scoring chances in the first period, but we had a few that were really good.

“Not so much in the second because we were killing off penalties it seemed like most of the time. In the third we just wanted to try to get pucks to the net and see if we could create scrambles.”

But unlike Friday’s game, Niagara refused to allow MSU to get to that three goal count before them, and Niagara’s Dan Kolenda pulled ahead for the Purple Eagles.

“It definitely took the wind out of our sails a little bit,” Wolfe said. “But we’ve been coming back all weekend, so the message was just to stay positive and keep working. I felt like we carried the play. I thought they were back on their heels a little bit, so it was definitely big for us to keep attacking and putting pressure on the defense.”

And keep attacking they did.

Anastos made the decision to pull Yanakeff, giving the Spartans an extra attacker. With less than a minute left to play, Darnell snuck one past Niagara’s goaltender on an assist from Wolfe.

Darnell had a goal, an assist and nine shots in the game.

“We work on it a little bit in practice; you never know how that’s going to play out,” Anastos said of pulling the goalie. “It’s exciting when that can happen because now, when it does, it really gives you that burst that you need late in the game to maybe finish and maybe carries over into overtime.”

The team’s played to a scoreless overtime, and MSU ended up winning a shootout 1-0.

Out-of-conference play doesn’t include shootouts in records, giving both teams a tie, but Anastos said the shootout win was good for the team’s confidence — especially with Yanakeff making three saves.

MSU will open up CCHA play with a series at Lake Superior State next weekend.