The Spartans couldn’t contain Minnesota’s top line of Blake McLaughlin, Scott Reedy, and Sammy Walker, as the trio combined for eight points on the night. McLaughlin got the scoring started for the Gophers just over a minute into the game, collecting his fifth goal of the season. Lewandowski would tie the game up seven minutes later, scoring from the slot on the power play, but that would prove to be all the offense MSU could muster up.

Minnesota forward Sampo Ranta scored his 11th goal of the season to break the tie early in the second period, putting the Gophers ahead 2-1. It appeared the score would stay that way heading into the third, but Reedy had other plans. Finding the loose puck as time trickled down, Reedy flipped one past Lethemon with just 1.9 seconds remaining in the period as Minnesota went up 3-1 after two periods of play.

Reedy added his second goal of the game late in the third period, scoring an empty-net goal to secure the 4-1 victory for Minnesota. The Spartans were outshot 26-23 on the night.

"We started doing some of the things in the third period we talked about that we have to do to have some success against them," said coach Danton Cole, according to a statement from the university athletics website. "I thought we got a little better over the period and we'll need to start tomorrow where we left off tonight."

The same two teams will meet again tomorrow as Michigan State will look to split the weekend series. Puck drop is set for 6 p.m. and will be televised on Fox Sports Detroit Plus.