After junior forward Matt Basgall took an interference penalty at the end of the first period, the No. 3-ranked Spartans had to kill off the winding minute of the Buckeyes' man advantage.

A forced turnover in the OSU offensive zone allowed MSU sophomore defenseman Patrick Geary and junior forward Daniel Russell to take off in a race down the ice, playing keepaway with a Buckeye defender and capitalizing off the two-on-one to take a 3-0 lead.

"We try to play the whole game super hard, but there’s definitely an attempt to go right off the hop, right off the draw," Russell said postgame.  

MSU hosted its first game in conference play Friday against the Buckeyes, skating away with a 4-2 win. Although OSU had a comeback bid and pulled its goalie in the final minutes of the game, MSU came out with a statement win over the red-hot team from Columbus, Ohio. 

MSU's penalty kill unit jumped on the shorthanded opportunity. Russell said the Spartans are able to take off quickly with the puck — a byproduct of their ability to see the ice and force turnovers in opportune moments. 

"When they’re on the power play, they’re looking to score, not looking to lock down defensively," Russell said. "I think we can get a quick turnover, we can go the other way and make something happen."

MSU's top line of Russell and junior forwards Karsen Dorwart and Joey Larson have a combined 14 points through the first seven games of the season. Russell has been the standout of the three, netting his fifth goal of the season as the game-winner Friday.

From the outset, the Spartans played on top, leading through the entire 60 minutes. But a strong first two periods led to numerous Spartan mistakes in the third, allowing the Buckeyes to draw closer. Russell said the Spartans had a lapse in focus and needed to play the same hockey they'd been playing.

"It shouldn’t have gotten that close at the end. I think it’s a lack of focus — you’re up a little bit and think you can get away with some other stuff that you can’t, and you’ve gotta keep playing the same way you’ve been playing before," Russell said.

Though the Buckeyes were on the tails of MSU, the early test speaks volumes thus far in the season for the youngest team in Big Ten hockey. Nightingale preaches the "bend, don’t break" mentality, which helped MSU hang on to the win and take off with a 1-0 conference record.

"(Ohio State) wanted to get going and they definitely did and had some good opportunities," Nightingale said. "But it was a little bit of 'bend don’t break,' and those are good qualities to have. We just want to make sure we control the game more."