Junior goaltender Jake Hildebrand heads to the locker room Feb. 7, 2015, during the game against Michigan at Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois. The Spartans were defeated by the Wolverines, 4-1, during the Coyote Logistics Hockey City Classic. Alice Kole/The State News
MSU hockey (11-12-2, 5-4-2-2 Big Ten) shutout the Big Ten’s second best offense on Friday night at Munn Ice Arena as they beat No. 19 Penn State 3-0. The Spartans got another good performance from junior goaltender Jake Hildebrand, who made 28 saves for his third shutout of the season.
“We limited their chances and kept them to the outside,” Hildebrand said simply following his First Star performance.
The forward line of sophomore forward Mackenzie MacEachern, junior forward Matt DeBlouw and senior forward Matt Berry led MSU offensively. MacEachern and DeBlouw each scored their seventh goals of the season with MacEachern adding an assist on the night as well. Berry finished with two assists, giving him a team-leading 11 assists and 19 points.
“They’ve been real average over the last few weeks,” head coach Tom Anastos said of the trio. “Today was more an example of what they’re capable of because they’ve got speed on that line, there’s skill on that line, they can play with some physicality, they can play with some energy.”
The Spartans’ penalty kill added to its Big Ten-leading numbers, killing off all three Nittany Lion power plays while only allowing one shot on net. All three penalties came when the game was tied 0-0.
MSU held PSU (15-8-4, 7-3-1 Big Ten) to just 28 shots-on-goal in the contests – an impressive mark considering PSU went into the game averaging 41.62 per-game. The Spartans clogged the shooting lanes throughout as evidenced by their 24 shot blocks. PSU also missed the net 17 times.
“They get the puck in the corner and they just try to throw it to the net, so we’ve got to get our sticks in there and maybe deflect it,” junior defenseman Travis Walsh said, who finished with six blocks in the game. “It was just a really good team effort there. Defensively, obviously we were blocking shots, we were getting pucks out with possession…we had some good offensive zone time which was key.”
After MacEachern scored the game’s first goal 10:04 into the second period, sophomore forward JT Stenglein potted his second goal of the year to make it 2-0 2:48 later. Friday was Stenglein’s first game back since sitting out the last 10 in a row.
“I thought that was a goal-scorers type goal,” Anastos said of the forward who scored 55 goals in his last two years in the USHL. “He’s trying to find a game that translates from where he played to playing here…and that should be a nice confidence boost for him.”
MSU now sits in fourth place with 19 points in the Big Ten, just three behind the Nittany Lions. The Spartans will have a chance to pull even with PSU when the teams face each other Saturday at 6 p.m. for the final time of the regular season.
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