Opportunity Delayed: No. 2 MSU loses 4-3 in OT to No. 1 Michigan

For the first time all season, No. 2 Michigan State hockey let a third-period lead slip away. The Spartans surrendered a 3–1 advantage after two periods and fell to No. 1 Michigan on Friday night, snapping a perfect 17–0–0 record when leading after forty minutes. The swing came in a matter of seconds – a Porter Martone power-play shot clanging off the post, followed almost immediately by Kienan Draper’s shorthanded equalizer on a two-on-one break.

The loss stung, but it also underscored just how razor-thin the margin is between the nation’s top two teams. Michigan State wakes up Saturday just two points out of first place in the Big Ten, with a chance to flip the standings outright with a regulation win and six games still left to play.

Michigan State has been the best first-period team in college hockey all season, outscoring opponents 36–6 entering Friday night. By the end of the opening frame, that margin stood at 37–7 – though Michigan continued its trend of scoring in the first period in all three meetings between the rivals.

The Spartans struck first with 4:46 remaining when Porter Martone chased down a zone-entry pass along the wall and fired a hard feed into the slot. Charlie Stramel finished the play to extend his hot streak, burying his 17th goal of the season. Transition chances were scarce for Michigan State throughout the night, but the Spartans made the most of one of their few clean opportunities.

Michigan answered less than two minutes later. Following an icing call that led to a defensive-zone faceoff, the Wolverines won the draw clean – a recurring theme on the night, as Michigan controlled the dot 45–30 – and Nicholas Moldenhauer redirected a point shot from the high slot. The deflection changed direction and slipped past a shifting Trey Augustine.

The game remained tied deep into the second period, with Michigan controlling play and generating the more dangerous looks through the opening half of the frame. The ice finally tilted late, as the Spartans pinned the Wolverines in their own zone for much of the final seven minutes. Michigan State capitalized on a Michigan neutral-zone turnover, with a defenseman jumping into the rush, and Shane Vansaghi finished the sequence to restore a 2–1 Spartan lead.

Two and a half minutes later Owen West continued his offensive play, scoring for the second straight weekend, beating Michigan goaltender Stephen Peck with a laser wrist shot to beat Peck glove side.

Michigan State carried a 3–1 lead past the halfway point of the third period, but sustained offensive-zone pressure from the Wolverines eventually broke through. Michigan spent extended stretches controlling possession and pushing the pace, and the dam finally gave way.

Asher Barnett, the defenseman who had been on the ice for Shane Vansaghi’s go-ahead goal, once again jumped into the rush, this time with devastating effect. Barnett drove hard from the blue line into the slot, found space behind the coverage, and beat Trey Augustine blocker side. His speed through the middle created an odd-man situation the Spartans’ defense could not recover from in time.

With 7:49 remaining in regulation, Michigan took a boarding minor in the offensive zone, giving the Spartans a prime opportunity to restore their two-goal cushion. Porter Martone one-timed a shot off the right post that ricocheted back into goaltender Logan Peck and stayed out. Moments later, the missed chance flipped the game.

Off the ensuing play, Kienan Draper broke free on a two-on-one, selling the pass to freeze the defense before rolling his wrists back into a shot and snapping it past Augustine’s blocker. It was a perfect finish, and the tying goal sent Yost Arena into a roar loud enough to overwhelm the television microphones.

Regulation ended with quality chances at both ends, sending the game to overtime with each team securing one point and skating for an additional one. Michigan controlled the puck off the opening faceoff of the extra period but was unable to convert.

After a change, Michigan State took its first penalty of the night, giving the Wolverines a four-on-three power play. With Eric Nilson on the ice, his stick made contact with Will Horcoff’s shin along the boards in the corner, sending Horcoff to the ice. While the near official did not raise his arm, the trailing referee at the neutral zone whistled the play dead and assessed a tripping minor.

Michigan set up with all four skaters below the tops of the faceoff circles and ran a tight passing weave, compressing the Spartans’ three penalty killers into a compact triangle that demanded sticks in every passing and shooting lane. Michigan State survived more than 1:30 of the penalty kill, with Charlie Stramel doing excellent work at the top of the triangle by tracking the puck and denying clean looks.

The breakthrough came when Michael Hage dragged laterally across the top of the formation, forcing Stramel to follow and Trey Augustine to respect him as a shooting threat. As the defense shifted, Hage used his peripheral vision to slip a pass to Jayden Perron at the far faceoff dot. Perron unloaded a one-timer that Augustine got a piece of, but the shot was too deep and still found the back of the net.

It was a high-end play by a pair of NHL draft picks in a game that was as tight as expected between two elite teams.

The coaching series between MSU's Adam Nightingale and UM's Brandon Naurato now stands at 9–8 in Naurato’s favor, with Nightingale’s Spartans getting a chance to pull even Saturday night at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on the Big Ten Network.