The Michigan State Spartans broke their six-game winless streak against the Ohio State Buckeyes with a solid 4-2 win in Columbus, but the topic of conversation postgame was the Spartans’ new best friend: the crossbar.<\/p>\n
With 2:20 remaining in regulation and trailing 3-1, OSU pulled goaltender David Caruso in favor of an extra skater, a tactic that led to Rod Pelley’s goal at 18:32 to bring the Buckeyes within one.<\/p>\n
Then, with 1:20 left, OSU again pulled Caruso and the Buckeyes again pelted Matt Migliaccio, who heard sweet music when Dave Steckel’s shot from close range hit the crossbar with 40 seconds remaining.<\/p>\n
“Dave Steckel is a great player. That crossbar was music to a goalie’s ears,” said Migliaccio. “I was doing everything I could do to distract him — waving my arms and everything.”<\/p>\n
The Spartans caught another break a few minutes later when senior captain Jim Slater stole the puck from Buckeye defender Nate Guenin in the OSU zone, moved around Guenin’s teammate Doug Andress, and scored the empty-netter to give MSU another two-goal lead. It was Slater’s second tally of the night, his 14th of the season.<\/p>\n
“I just wanted to stop them from getting another rush,” said Slater. “Andress put himself out of the play.”<\/p>\n
MSU head coach Rick Comley called it a good news-bad news night. “Bad news is that we had a major injury. The good news is that we found a crossbar when we needed it.”<\/p>\n
That injury was to MSU goaltender freshman Dominic Vicari, who left the game at 18:55 in the second with a leg injury. Comley said it could be a muscle tear — “something bad” — and that the Spartans will scramble for a backup Saturday.<\/p>\n
“We have to find our third goalie back in East Lansing and get him down here, or dress a regular player for tomorrow.”<\/p>\n
OSU head coach John Markell said he was very satisfied with his team’s efforts in the loss. “I think we played a pretty good game. You put 44 shots on this team … I think we missed opportunities. It’s unfortunate that it happened the way it did. We certainly created opportunities to score.<\/p>\n
“It’s disappointing to lose this game, but you’ve got to give credit where credit is due. I’ll take that [Buckeye] team tonight that we had here any night. A lot of guys played really hard.”<\/p>\n
OSU scored first at 12:50 in the opening stanza when Chris Olsgard took a back-door feed from Bryce Anderson with the Buckeyes crashing the net. Olsgard never broke stride as he popped it to the far side of Vicari.<\/p>\n
After dominating the first 18 minutes, a defensive breakdown in front of their own net cost the Buckeyes a goal, the lead, and probably the game. At 19:21, Drew Miller tied it up for MSU, picking up the third rebound that OSU failed to clear from the crease. The shot beat a screened Mike Betz to make it a tie game going into the second. OSU outshot MSU 19-8 in the first.<\/p>\n
The Spartans increased their lead to 2-1 on Slater’s first goal of the night at 3:42. Slater skated the puck coast to coast and, drawing Betz left and off the ice, put it under the OSU netminder’s legs.<\/p>\n
David Booth made it 3-1 at 15:08, a one-timer from the top of the left circle that seemed to catch Betz off guard to hit the twine clean when both teams were skating down a man.<\/p>\n
Dave Caruso replaced Betz at the start of the third, and for most of the third period the Spartans shut down any Buckeye chances to get back into the game — until 17:40. For the remaining minutes, OSU played with an intensity that matched their opening play and nearly tied the game.<\/p>\n
“We weathered a storm,” said Booth. “The first 10 minutes, they came out pretty strong. It was a good road victory.”<\/p>\n
MSU (14-12-1, 10-6-1 CCHA) and OSU (15-11-0, 10-8-0 CCHA) meet again Saturday night at 7:05 for their fourth and final regular-season game of the year. The Buckeyes will try to continue their trend of rebounding after Friday losses, but the Spartans — who have split their last six series, winning Fridays and losing Saturdays — hope that history does not repeat.<\/p>\n
“That’s the tale of the season right now,” said Slater of MSU’s Saturday-night fortunes. “We need to stick to the game plan. It hasn’t been working, but we need to stick to it.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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