MSU hockey still is searching for its first road win of the season, but put up two solid showings this weekend at national powerhouse No. 1 Minnesota.
MSU (8-13-4 overall, 2-5-3-3 Big Ten) earned two points on Friday night, a 2-2 tie followed by a shootout victory, and dropped the second game of the series on Saturday, 1-0.
For a second time this season, MSU earned a tie with a shootout victory against top-ranked Minnesota (19-2-5, 8-0-2), with the first coming on Dec. 6 at Munn Ice Arenab. MSU now is 3-0 in shootouts in Big Ten play.
The Spartans finished the season series against Minnesota with two losses and two ties, but earned a shootout victory earlier in the season.
MSU remains the only team in the conference to earn points in the standings against Minnesota.
Head coach Tom Anastos said following the hard-fought one goal loss on Saturday that he was happy with the Spartans’ effort in the two-game series despite coming out winless.
“Our team is getting better every night, and we got to keep building on the things we are doing because we are going to keep ourselves in the mix of this thing in the Big Ten,” Anastos told Spartan Sports Network. “We know we can play with anybody in this league.”
MSU scored two goals in the opening period of the series, but failed to find the back of the net during the rest of the weekend.
Sophomore forward Michael Ferrantino and freshman forward Villiam Haag had the two goals for MSU in the series.
The shootout went six rounds on Friday, with junior forward Matt Berry and freshman forward J.T. Stengleinb scoring for the Spartans.
Sophomore goaltender Jake Hildebrand prevented five of the six Minnesota skaters from scoring in the shootout, giving MSU a 2-1 shootout victory.
The Spartans not only were battling the Golden Gophers, but some spotty officiating as well on Friday nightb. Minnesota’s second goal to tie the game appeared to come from an illegal kick, but the goal was upheld after reviewing the play.
MSU also came up on the short end of the stick on what seemed to be a shootout goal by freshman forward Joe Coxb.
As the puck was crossing the goal line, Gopher sophomore goaltender Adam Wilcoxb knocked the net out of place.
The play originally was ruled a goal, but it was overturned after review.
The following night was a defensive battle, with the lone goal of the evening coming in the first period.
Minnesota junior forward Kyle Raub scored what ultimately was the game-winning goal only four minutes after a Golden Gopher goal was overturned.
Hildebrand made 37 saves on the night, giving him 63 in the series.
With Friday’s goal, Ferrantino has points in seven of the Spartans’ 10 Big Ten game. He leads the team in scoring in conference games with five goals and three assists.
MSU returns to the ice on Friday for a two-game home series against Ohio State (14-9-1, 4-5-1) at Munn Ice Arena.
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MSU earned two points with a shootout victory in the first two-game series at Ohio State in early January.
