After an mostly uneventful opening period, things picked up for both teams in what was a flurry of a second and third period.

Michigan State broke the scoreless tie was broken four minutes into the second period. They had just eight shots on goal in the period, but only needed one to get a puck behind OSU’s starting goaltender Tommy Nappier.

Junior defenseman Dennis Cesana dumped the puck up against the boards behind Nappier. The puck bounced off the boards nicely right in front of the net, as a waiting sophomore forward Jagger Joshua was right there to shove it into the back of the net, his third goal of the year.

Instead of the momentum being with the Spartans, Ohio State flipped a switch and started putting lots of pressure on Drew DeRidder. They peppered him with lots of chances as MSU struggled to gain possession of the puck for any extended period of time.

Eventually, DeRidder gave way and Ohio State was able to get on the board to tie the game on a goal by outstanding freshman center Travis Treloar just over halfway through the game.

Shortly after, Ohio State had a great opportunity to grab their first lead of the game with a four-on-three power play because of simultaneous penalties by OSU’s Quinn Preston and MSU’s Mitchell Lewandowski followed by an additional too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty by Michigan State.

The Spartans’ penalty kill held up though, killing the four-on-three power play and the additional :38 of a five-on-four power play just before the second intermission.

Just three and a half minutes into the third, Ohio State took the lead on sophomore defenseman C.J. Regula’s first goal as a Buckeye, the start of an offensive barrage by Ohio State.

That goal was quickly followed up by a Tate Singleton goal and a Patrick Guzzo goal. Within a span of 2:05, what was once a 1-1 tie was now a 4-1 Ohio State lead.

The wheels had completely fallen off and just like that, after leading for more than half of the game, the Spartans were on their way for their third straight loss.

“We lost some battles," Head Coach Danton Cole said after the game. "We did not keep some pucks in, and they got going in transition. Our defense read a couple things like it was a three on three when it was a three on two. And then our forwards did not do a good job of back checking and kind of let guys loose and picked the wrong guy and did not come with enough speed.”

With five minutes to go, the Buckeyes got another goal to beat DeRidder, this time by senior forward Colling Peters, leaving a 5-1 defeat for the green and white.

“I think it was just a mental breakdown within five minutes, and that’s what will happen in the Big Ten," senior defenseman Tommy Miller said. "There’s a bunch of good teams that will capitalize on those breakdowns, and they did."

Charlie Combs was a scratch for the Spartans, and the team felt the absence of their leading scorer.

“Charlie brings a lot of energy," Cole said. "He plays on the edges, and he grinds and he puts pucks on net. We missed a little bit of that zip."

Junior Gustaf Westlund led the Buckeyes with seven of their 56 shots on goal, however he did not record a point. Six different players, Peters, Treloar, Regula, Kamil Sadlocha, Mark Cheremeta, and Ryan O'Connell, for Ohio State all recorded two points.

DeRidder made 51 saves while allowing five goals. Junior defenseman Christian Krygier and Lewandowski led the team with four shots on goal each.

Michigan State will have a chance to split the series at 4 p.m. on Sunday as they will take on the Buckeyes again in East Lansing.