Michigan State has moved up two spots to No. 15 in this week’s USCHO Poll after erasing two-goal deficits on Friday and Saturday to take four points from Penn State in the Big Ten standings. 

The Spartans trailed 2-0 entering Friday’s third period, but forced overtime before fifth-year defenseman Cole Krygier scored a game-winner in overtime. PSU and MSU played to overtime again the following night thanks to a hat trick from senior forward Jagger Joshua. Michigan State scored in all three shootout attempts to grab the game’s extra point. 

Across the Big Ten, Minnesota stayed put at No. 2, Penn State fell one spot to No. 6 and Ohio State jumped Michigan after a split in Ann Arbor. 

Michigan State moved back up to No. 12 in the Pairwise rankings, which largely determine the 16-team NCAA Tournament field. 

The Spartans are idle this weekend before a road series against Minnesota Jan. 27-28. After that, MSU will have three remaining series against Notre Dame, Michigan and Wisconsin before the Big Ten Tournament in early March. According to playoffstatus.com, Michigan State is most likely to finish in either fourth or fifth place in the conference. 

Here’s how the rest of the rankings sit:

1. Quinnipiac
2. Minnesota
3. Denver
4. St. Cloud
5. Boston University
6. Penn State
7. Ohio State
8. Michigan
9. Harvard
10.  Western Michigan
11.  Merrimack
12.  Providence
13.  Connecticut
14.  Michigan Tech
15.  Michigan State
16.  Cornell
17.  Minnesota State
18.  Boston College
19.  UMass Lowell
20.  RIT