Help may be on the way with the potential return of Lewandowski as soon as this weekend versus Notre Dame. Michigan State Head Coach Danton Cole said Monday that Lewandowski has moved from week-to-week to day-to-day. It’s a glimmer of hope for the Spartans who are 10-4-1 with him in the lineup and 1-14-0 without him. 

“He was on the ice all last week,” Cole said. “He was out on the ice practicing with us. He’ll be out today but I did not think he was gonna play last week but he was on the ice. He’ll be on the ice today and he may be out of the red jersey tomorrow.” 

Lewandowski was still bearing the red injury sweater Tuesday afternoon, but was indeed participating in practice and didn’t appear to have any hindrance. In fact, he looked like himself, scoring three goals on three consecutive possessions while working with the power-play unit. Despite playing in just half of MSU’s competitions, the assistant captain is still third on the team in points at 18. He’s that impactful of a player. 

“Obviously we’ve missed Lewy a huge amount,” sophomore defenseman Nash Nienhuis, who picked up two goals and three assists last weekend, said. “He’s a great player and he scores goals which obviously we need. Just having him back out on the ice is a huge boost for our team and you can feel like an energy around him so it’s been good.”

Lewandowski, Loughran and Berger’s extended absences have tied Cole’s hands working with his razor-thin team. The sophomore Jeremy Davidson, freshman Jesse Tucker, junior Erik Middendorf line has been Michigan State’s best and deserves to be untouched. MSU’s other three lines though have been wildly inconsistent. But when sophomore defenseman Cal Dybicz is the only available extra skater, Cole has elected to attempt for continuity rather than shuffling one or two players each weekend. 

That’s where MSU’s strong start to the season works in its favor. Despite the outcomes of the last 10 games, the trench that the Spartans dug themselves might not be as deep as it seems. Michigan State has positioned itself well enough to potentially finish as high as the No. 5 seed in the Big Ten Tournament. It would be the best regular season in Cole’s five years as head coach. 

“It’s been funny,” Cole said. “There’s definitely a bifurcation of the Big Ten hockey conference is probably the best way to put it. The top four teams are in a battle and then we are as well at the bottom. There’s your mini-incentive and finish.”

How Michigan State can jump into the fifth seed

Both the top and bottom of the Big Ten are highly contested. Michigan, Minnesota and Ohio State make up the top-three, with just three points separating first from third. Wisconsin, Penn State and Michigan State make up the bottom three with just six points separating fifth from seventh. 

MSU has four games remaining, all of which come at home: two against Notre Dame this weekend and two against Penn State next weekend. From a scheduling standpoint, the Spartans couldn’t have asked for much better. 

Technically, Michigan State controls its own destiny. If MSU were to win out, it would put them at 26 points. If Wisconsin, who has just two games left, were to sweep Minnesota next week in Minneapolis, it would put the Spartans and Badgers in a tie for fifth place. However, Michigan State with more wins would have the tiebreaker over Wisconsin. Meanwhile, Penn State, assuming in this scenario they sweep Minnesota at home this week, would be at 23 points. 

Banking on a team to rattle off four straight wins after dropping the last 10 is not something many would put a mortgage on. A sane person would never. Bottom line, if Michigan State is able to take two or three wins in the next two weeks, and that seems like the most likely scenario, the race for the fifth seed could get interesting. 

“Yeah, I think that’s something that we kind of addressed as a team that we’re not out of it by any means and we just have to really focus on these games and we can potentially make it up to fifth,” Nienhuis said. “Just really focusing on these last four here and making a huge push towards the end.”

Notre Dame (21-9-0) and Penn State (14-15-1) are both teams that Michigan State is capable of beating. MSU played both teams back-to-back in December and was able to secure a win in each series. 

If the Spartans are able to pull it off and finish in fifth place, it would completely flip the narrative of the season and Cole’s coaching tenure as well. Suddenly, MSU could become the underdog that nobody wants to face. 

Regardless, with Lewandowski possibly returning this week and the next four games to be played in East Lansing, all is not over for Michigan State. These next four games could very well determine the program’s vibe heading into the next season.