Ohio State Suffers 4-1 Loss at Michigan State – Ohio State Buckeyes
1/23/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Jan. 23, 2015
(Photo credit Matt Mitchell)
EAST LANSING, Mich. – The Ohio State men’s hockey fell to Michigan State, 4-1, Friday in Munn Ice Arena in East Lansing, Mich. The teams were scoreless after the first period before the Spartans (8-11-2, 2-3-2-2 B1G) scored twice in the second for a 2-0 lead. The Buckeyes (7-12-2, 2-5-0-0 B1G) cut the lead in half early in the third but the Spartans responded less than four minutes later and sealed the win with a late goal.
The teams will close the weekend and regular-season series at 7 p.m. Saturday in East Lansing, with the game televised on BTN, available through BTN2Go and on the radio on 1460 AM in Columbus and Buckeye Vision.
Neither team scored in the first period, with Ohio State outshooting Ohio State 11-9. The Buckeyes had two power play chances and the Spartans had one opportunity.
Just 1:35 into the second period Matt Berry scored on a wraparound for a 1-0 MSU lead. At 14:08 Brent Darnell tallied on a shot after a faceoff win by Thomas Ebbing, putting the Spartans ahead 2-0. The Buckeyes had 14 shots in the period, along with a shot from Anthony Greco that went off the crossbar. The Spartans put 14 shots on the Buckeye net. Ohio State had the only power play chance of the stanza.
Ohio State cut the MSU lead in half at 2:46 of the third, as senior Nick Oddo passed out from behind the net to sophomore David Gust, who scored from in close. Freshman Nicholas Jones had the second assist on the tally, Gust’s second of the year. The Spartans answered at 6:14 to regain the two-goal lead when Mackenzie MacEachern put in the rebound of a shot that glanced off the post with MSU on the power play. The Buckeyes pulled their goalie for the extra attacker with 2:30 left but an icing put Christian Frey back in net and a faceoff deep in the Buckeye zone. The Buckeyes won the faceoff, but a miscommunication led to the Spartans getting the puck and Ryan Keller found Darnell alone in front. Darnell’s shot went wide, but Keller was there to put it home at 19:12 to seal the victory. Ohio State outshot Michigan State 9-8 in the period. Each team had one power play chance.
Ohio State outshot Michigan State, 34-31, in the game. Frey made 27 saves for the Buckeyes in 58:24, while Jake Hildebrand stopped 33 shots in all 60 minutes. The Buckeyes blocked 15 shots, led by junior Sam Jardine with four.
The Spartans won the special teams battle, going 1-for-2 on the power play and 4-for-4 on the penalty kill.
