MSU couldn’t overcome four unanswered goals by No. 8 Wisconsin, falling 5-2 on Friday night at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wis.
Wisconsin used two powerplay goals and a goal in the final four seconds of the second period to power past MSU. The Badgers were led by senior forward Michael Mersch, who finished with two goals. Mersh leads the conference in goals.
Senior forward Lee Reimer and freshman forward Mackenzie MacEachern scored the two Spartan goals.
MSU struck first with a shorthanded goal in the first period to take an early 1-0 lead. Reimer streaked down the right side and fired a wrist shot that snuck past junior goaltender Joel Rumpel’s right pad with 6:52 into the game. Senior defenseman Jake Chelios had an assist on the goal.
However, the lead wouldn’t last long, with Wisconsin responding quickly to tie the game at 1-1. Mersch scored only 2:22 later after junior forward Brent Darnell took another Spartan penalty. The goal was assisted by sophomore forward Nic Kerdiles and junior defenseman Jake McCabe.
Senior forward Greg Wolfe nearly gave MSU the lead late in the first period, ringing one off the Badger crossbar in the final minute of the period. However, the two teams would enter the dressing rooms tied at 1-1.
Wisconsin would take the lead early in the second period on another Mersch power play goal. Mersch found the back of the net on a rebound shot, slipping it through sophomore goaltender Jake Hildebrand’s legs only four minutes into the second period. Kerdiles and McCabe had the assists on the goal again.
Like in the first period, Wolfe had another great scoring opportunity in the final minute of the second period. Wolfe got off a wrist shot on a two-on-one with Reimer, but Rumpel made a big glove save.
Shortly after Wolfe failed to tie the game, Wisconsin added to its lead with only four seconds left in the period. Sophomore defenseman Kevin Schulze sent a cross ice pass to an open senior forward Mark Zengerle, who fired a wrist shot into the open net to give Wisconsin a two-goal lead heading into the third period.
Wisconsin would extend its lead to 4-1 in the first five minutes of the third period. Junior forward Brad Navin was in the right place at the right time, with the rebound popping out to him with a wide open net — and he didn’t miss. Senior forward Sean Little had the assist on the play.
MacEachern would add a meaningless goal with 2:08 left in the game. Wolfe created a turnover in the neutral zone and found a trailing MacEachern who shot it into the upper right corner of the net.
The goal broke a 16-game scoreless streak for MacEachern.
Sophomore forward Nic Kerdiles would score an empty net goal to end the scoring for the night.
Sophomore goaltender Jake Hildebrand finished with 23 saves. It was the first time in seven games that he gave up more than two goals.
MSU will have another crack at Wisconsin again tomorrow afternoon at the Kohl Center. Puck drop is set for 5 p.m. and the game can be seen on ESPNU.
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