Second-year forward Stephen Halliday (19) skates with the puck against Wisconsin. Credit: Zach Ball | For The Lantern
The Ohio State men’s ice hockey team earned its third-straight win against the No. 4 team in the country but were unable to complete the sweep Saturday.
The Ohio State Buckeyes (12-16-4, 4-16-2 Big Ten) beat the Michigan State Spartans (21-8-3, 15-5-2 Big Ten) 6-2 Friday, but failed to spoil the Spartans’ senior night as they split the series via a 5-2 Spartan win Saturday.
Michigan State’s freshman forward Gavin O’Connell opened the scoring Friday night only 1:50 into the first period. However, Ohio State did not let the early goal stop them from continuing the momentum it came into the series with after its sweep of the then-No. 4 Wisconsin Badgers last weekend.
The Buckeyes followed up the goal by O’Connell with four consecutive goals that put them three scores ahead of the Spartans with two minutes left in the second period.
Buckeyes freshman forward Sam Deckhut found the net twice in their run of goals. Those scores were the first and second career goals for him in his 23rd career game for Ohio State.
Immediately following the final Deckhut goal, Michigan State freshman forward Tommi Mannisto was called for a major hitting-from-behind penalty.
After only a minute into the major penalty, junior forward Cam Thiesing scored his ninth of the season to make the score 4-1 in favor of the Buckeyes.
The Spartans managed to creep up with a second goal from O’Connell with only 27 seconds left in the second. His goal was assisted by freshman defenseman Artyom Levhunov, who is projected to be a top-five draft pick in the upcoming NHL Draft.
Ohio State was able to shut down the Spartans in the third period as it scored two goals to end the first game in East Lansing, Michigan.
Buckeyes junior goaltender Logan Terness stopped 34 shots by the Spartans, including a cross-crease save by the paddle of his stick to rob Michigan State of a third goal. Terness has now won both of the last two games that he started.
On Saturday night, the Spartans came out with hopes of revenge for the routing they received Friday. The Spartan senior night proved to encourage them as they beat the Buckeyes 5-2.
Michigan State opened the scoring in the first period for the second night in a row, as sophomore forward Karsen Dorwart scored his 13th goal of the season. Dorwart played the biggest part in the Spartan win, recording a team-high three points, including two power-play assists.
The difference in Saturday’s contest was a three-goal second period by the Spartans that featured three different scorers. One of which was O’Connell as he increased his goal tally on the weekend to three.
Even with a goal in the third period by the Buckeyes, the Spartans proved to be too much for Ohio State.
The Buckeyes will wrap up their regular season at home in Columbus, Ohio Friday and Saturday as they host Penn State. The series will start Friday at 6 p.m. and will be streamed live on Big Ten Network. The regular season finale will be Saturday at 5 p.m. and will be streamed live on Big Ten Plus.
