Michigan State defeats Ohio State

COLUMBUS, Ohio — All-America candidate Torey Krug earned first-star honors for the second consecutive night with a goal and an assist, senior Brett Perlini had three assists and sophomore Greg Wolfe had a pair of assists as Michigan State earned a sweep of No. 10 Ohio State with a 3-2 victory on Saturday.

Will Yanakeff made 33 saves on the heels of a 41-save performance on Friday, and freshman Matt Berry had his second goal in as many nights.

The Spartans improved to 15-11-4, which matches MSU’s win total from last season. In the CCHA, MSU is now 10-9-3-2, and is tied for seventh place with Lake Superior State. The Spartans are now 4-1-1 against top-10 teams this season, and now turn their attentions to a home-and-Joe series with Michigan next weekend. The Wolverines are coming off a sweep of Miami this weekend.

MSU got on the board first, at 9:14. Off a faceoff win, Krug corralled the puck at the left point, and dished off to Matt Berry at the far post for the freshman’s second goal of the weekend.

The Spartans doubled their lead just under two minutes into the middle frame. Skating four-on-four, a series of nifty passes brought the Spartans into the offensive zone, and Brett Perlini had a shot from the right side that was saved by Heeter.

The rebound came into the slot, where Greg Wolfe backhanded it back out to Jake Chelios at the top of the left circle, and his shot beat Heeter for the sophomore’s second goal of the season.

Perlini and Wolfe teamed up to set up another power-play goal, this time by Krug, to extend the Spartans lead to 3-0 at 13:25 in the second period. Perlini kicked it out to Wolfe at the left point, and Krug was at the top of the slot moving to the right for his eighth goal of the season and fifth point of the weekend.

Less than a minute later, however, Ohio State got the goal back off the stick of Tanner Fritz, who was set up by Max and Ryan Dzingel at 14:23. Fritz added a second in the period with under a minute remaining at 17:49 to cut the Spartan lead to a goal, as he was set up by Dzingel and McCormick again.

The third period was a scoreless affair, despite the home team desperate to snap their nine-game winless streak and a 10-4 edge in shots. The Spartans got a huge lift with their defensive effort, as MSU killed off three penalties and the final minute of 6-on-5 action. Krug, Trevor Nill, and Brock Shelgren came up with big blocked shots in the final two shifts as the Buckeyes pressed for an equalizer with Heeter on the bench.