"We were bad for long enough and they took advantage of it," Michigan State hockey Head Coach Danton Cole said.

After a rough first period, the switch flipped for the Spartans. Senior goalkeeper Drew DeRidder stepped it up, blocking the rest of the shots on goal.

Their offense finally woke up too with a goal from junior forward Griffin Loughran with a little over a minute and a half remaining in the second period.

"We kind of got off to a bad start, but what I like most is the resiliency we showed and we didn't give up," junior forward Jagger Joshua said. "In my eyes, I think we did win those last two periods and that's a positive take away from today."

The Spartans carried their persistence into the third period with another goal by junior forward Nicolas Müller, three minutes into the period. This resulted in the need for one more to tie it all up.

"I always try to find that little soft spot … and put it in there," Müller said. "It feels really good … to finally get one in and I think we can also produce lots more. It's a really great feeling."

Müller scored his first goal of the season off of a thrilling and unexpected play.

"This is probably one of Niko's best games," Cole said. “(Müller) did a really nice job he was on the right side of pucks and helped us get them up."

Unfortunately, this was not enough for MSU to bring home the win. They fought for a goal throughout the remainder of the game but ran out of time.

"We started really bad with 3-0, but then we had a really good response,” Müller said. “We've just gotta find a way to get it all done in 60 minutes.”

MSU will face University of Michigan again back to back Feb. 11-12. For now, the Spartans will return to Munn Ice Arena on Nov. 11 to play Ferris State at 7 p.m.

"There were a lot of positives and we've got to build on that," Cole said. "For now, we've gotta tip our hats to Michigan, we'll see them when we see them, but for now we rest a little bit and get ready for Ferris State on Thursday night.”