“Sweeps are hard to get in our conference,” MSU coach Adam Nightingale said. “I liked how we started. Obviously they tied it up on the power play there, and then we had a big kill there, five-minute major…. I thought the guys did a heck of a job of digging in. It would have been easy to melt at that moment.”

Junior goaltender Trey Augustine and the Spartans killed off a five-minute major and an additional 45 seconds to fend off an Irish power play in the middle of the second period. Notre Dame’s power play, ranked fifth in the NCAA, was held to 2-for-5. Augustine stopped 24 of 26 shots on the night.

Freshman winger Porter Martone tallied his first-career hat trick on the night, scoring the game-winning goal in the second period. Martone has now recorded the ninth most points (41) by a freshman at MSU, and is tied for fourth in goals (20) scored by a freshman.

Freshman winger Ryker Lee also marked his first multi-goal performance. Four of the Spartans’ eight goals came after hard defensive checks. 

“We're at our best when we play physical, and I think that's what our sport is about,” Nightingale said. “I think that's where I kind of fell in love with the sport, the physical side of it. That's when we're at our best, and especially, getting closer to playoffs here, it's going to get tighter and tighter and more physical, and our guys have shown that they can handle it.”

With the win, the Spartans improved to 15-5-0 in Big Ten action (24-6-0 overall) with 45 points. MSU has also moved to the top of the Big Ten standings following No. 2 Michigan's loss to Wisconsin. 

MSU will host Ohio State in its final regular-season home series next weekend. Games are scheduled for Friday, Feb. 19, at 8:30 p.m. and Saturday, Feb. 20, at 8 p.m. on the Big Ten Network. Saturday’s game will honor the Spartans’ five seniors.

Early scoring

The game heated up quickly. 

MSU controlled the puck from the drop, and senior forward Daniel Russell maneuvered his way to a shot, prompting a crowded net and three penalties that resulted in a Spartan power play just 27 seconds in. 

Martone won the faceoff for the Spartans and buried a shot from the left dot just seconds later to give MSU a 1-0 lead just 1:16 into the game. 

“We talked about scoring quick on power plays,” Martone said. “Riggs (senior forward Charlie Stramel) was in the box there. So I had to hop in and take the draw. And that's something that I worked on, too, just in case.”

The Spartans won every faceoff in the first five minutes of play, and the Irish could not mark an on-target shot until MSU took a penalty. 

While Notre Dame didn’t convert on its first power play of the night, it tied the game on its second. Forward Michael Mastrodomenico fired a shot past Augustine’s right side to even the score at 1-1.

MSU takes the lead

MSU took a 2-1 lead just 46 seconds into the second period with a power-play goal from Lee. Lee scored on a shot to the top corner, unassisted.

It looked like the Spartans had extended their lead a couple of minutes later when freshman center Eric Nilson pushed in a rebound off sophomore winger Shane Vansaghi’s shot.

However, Notre Dame called for a video review to challenge whether a major penalty occurred before the goal. After the review, freshman center Cayden Lindstrom was assessed a five-minute major for contact to the head and was ejected from the game, with the clock rewound to erase Nilson’s goal.

Bring out the special teams

The five minute major tested Augustine and the special teams — and they passed. 

Augustine made eight saves to kill off the major penalty, as well as a two-minute minor that Nilson served during the major. He stopped a breakaway and its rebound halfway through the major while his teammates continued to clear pucks. Martone called it the turning point of the game.

“When we're at our best, we're winning faceoffs. We're doing a good job in the forecheck, and we get a chance to clear the puck,” Nightingale said a few weeks ago. “You look at the talent in our conference, you're gonna be asking a lot of Trey (Augustine). He's gonna have to make some saves. So I think when our penalty kill is at its best, those three things are really good.” 

MSU finished the night with a 48-26 faceoff advantage. It won more faceoffs than the Irish in every period. 

The Spartans continued to demonstrate their forecheck throughout the second period, and it paid off despite an icing. While MSU lost the faceoff, Martone checked hard, creating a breakaway for himself and a 3-1 lead at 11:13. 

MSU’s penalty-kill unit came out about a minute later, but that didn’t stop junior forward Tommi Männistö. Männistö got his stick on the puck and raced after it to score a shorthanded goal, giving MSU a 4-1 lead.

However, Notre Dame’s power play responded less than a minute later. Center Pano Fimis scored on a one-timer to make it a 4-2 game. 

Sophomore defenseman Owen West added to the score with his fourth goal of the season, burying a shot from the blueline during an MSU power play. The Spartans recorded five power-play goals in the series, including two in the opening game.

“It was good for us to see it going for us,” Lee said. “No matter what the score, we're trying to play a full 60 (minutes). And so we scored, I think, four in the second for us to keep going. And the third was really good to see out of our group.” 

MSU took its 5-2 lead into the final period, and despite a man-advantage at the start, the score held halfway through the third. There were only three shots and four faceoffs combined from both sides.

A hat trick and more goals

The Spartans tested goaltender Luke Pearson in the 12th minute, forcing him to stop consecutive shots. After a strong play by junior defenseman Maxim Štrbák, Russell fired a shot, and Martone buried the rebound for his third goal of the night, giving MSU a 6-2 lead. Martone recorded his first career hat trick and 20th goal of the season.

With Martone’s goal, the Spartans matched their previous season-high in goals scored (6), but they weren’t done yet. 

At the 14:35 mark, junior forward Griffin Jurecki scored in transition off a pass from Männistö for his second goal of the season. 

Lee scored his second goal of the night exactly 20 seconds later, stealing the puck on the back check before faking out Pearson to score left side for an 8-2 lead. 

With a little over three minutes left in regulation, chants of “We want Dolan” rang out from the student section, and Nightingale responded by putting in senior goaltender Dolan Gilbert. He played 55 seconds in the first game of the teams’ first series back in November and 3:23 tonight. Gilbert grew up around Notre Dame hockey, as his father was an equipment manager.

Junior defenseman Patrick Geary and Notre Dame forward Carter Slaggert were assessed game misconducts shortly after Gilbert was put in, but the 8-2 score held for MSU. 

The Spartans were much sharper and physical in their performance compared to the previous night, allowing them to generate their season-high in scoring. 

“They (Notre Dame) defended really well last night (Thursday),” Martone said. “Something that we talked about this morning and before the game [was], ‘how can we get pucks behind their [defense] and limit their physicality and bring our physicality on them?’ I think that's what we did and that's why we were so successful.”