“We know how good of a team they are, super talented, it takes everything to beat them like that, whole group effort,” junior defenseman Matt Basgall said. “A lot of things we talk about for (Minnesota) is attention to detail because they have players that could just burn us. Saw yesterday on a couple rush plays where they could just execute and all of a sudden it’s in the back of the net, so great job to all the guys for staying very detailed.”

After the blowout win over the top-five Gophers, MSU anticipated a tighter battle in night two. Despite the balanced play, head coach Adam Nightingale and Basgall called it their best weekend and top 120 minutes of hockey this season.

“There’s still stuff to clean up, but again I’m looking at who we’re playing, the time of year it is, this is what you want,” Nightingale said. “I do think our guys, our group has been really consistent and that just doesn’t happen. They’ve got to make a decision to have the right mindset of, it’s not about rankings, it’s not about tuning out the outside noise, it’s just about getting better.”

In sudden-death overtime, Minnesota dominated puck possession, limiting MSU’s chances in the three-on-three setup. The Spartans responded with patience and poise in their approach.

Overcommitting against the Gophers could have created scoring opportunities for Minnesota. Postgame, Basgall noted that staying disciplined and avoiding unnecessary risks was key to keeping the puck out of their net.

“You want to play with the puck, you want to have possession in overtime,” Basgall said. “You don’t want to get too aggressive on them. If we get angry at it or take a bad step they end up in the back of the net, so I think we did a good job staying composed for when they were holding the puck.”

What was seen from the Golden Gophers for five of six periods of game play on the weekend was the ability to respond, tying the game after going down one, but as Minnesota would tie, Michigan State would answer, giving them a nudge at a lead through the entirety of the weekend.

“I thought we did a good job staying with it,” Nightingale said. “...I want to make sure our guys have the mindset that is, we’ve got to focus on things we can control and early in the shift we can get a puck out and it doesn’t lead to that and our guys understand that.”

For MSU, every point in the remainder of the season is crucial as they aim to clinch back-to-back Big Ten regular season titles, secure a first-round bye in the conference tournament and maintain home-ice advantage. With the crowd advantage, the team knows how big of a role this can play in the setting of a big game.

While the regular season series may be over between the two, there is still a chance for a tournament matchup between the top contenders. 

“It’s definitely possible, (Minnesota) has got a great team over there so we’d like to see them again and we will make sure to give them our best again,” senior forward Tanner Kelly said.

MSU will head away to Columbus to face the Ohio State Buckeyes at 8 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 30, and at 7 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 31, for its next set of games.