Buckeyes Head to East Lansing for Series vs. No. 2 Spartans

Friday, February 27

East Lansing, Mich.

8:30 p.m.

Ohio State

Michigan State

Photo by: Ohio State Athletics

Buckeyes Head to East Lansing for Series vs. No. 2 Spartans

2/25/2026 10:35:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey

Ohio State PDF Notes

Squads split a series in Columbus in January

The Basics

The Ohio State men's hockey team heads to East Lansing, Mich., for the final road series of the regular season.
The Buckeyes and No. 1 Michigan State will meet at 8:30 p.m. Friday and 8 p.m. Saturday in Munn Ice Arena in East Lansing, Mich.
BTN will televise both games, with the broadcast also on the Fox Sports app.
Ohio State Radio will carry the action (1460 AM Columbus, WBNS-FM-HD2, streamed on espncolumbus.com and OhioStateBuckeyes.com and on the Ohio State Buckeyes app).
Live stats can be linked from the schedule page on OhioStateBuckeyes.com for both games.
Ohio State is 11-18-1 on the year (7-13, 23 points Big Ten) and is coming off two losses at No. 6 Penn State (L 4-11, L OT 4-5). Michigan State is 24-6 overall and 15-5 in league games (45 points). The Spartans are coming off a sweep at Notre Dame (W 4-2, W 8-2).

Buckeye Notes to Know

The series at Michigan State is the second consecutive road series for the Buckeyes.
The regular season ends for Ohio State with two games at home vs. Notre Dame March 5-6, with the series finale Senior Night for the Class of 2026.
Ohio State and Michigan State split a series in Columbus Jan. 9-10, with a 6-2 Spartan win and 2-1 Buckeye victory.
The Buckeyes (20 B1G games played) are in fifth place in the Big Ten with 23 points, one point ahead of Minnesota (20 gp, 22 points). Michigan (22 gp) is first with 46 points, followed by Michigan State (45 points, 20 gp), Penn State (38 points, 20 gp) and Wisconsin (33 points, 22 gp), with Notre Dame seventh (20 gp, 9 points). The regular season champion gets a bye in the quarterfinal round of the playoffs, with seeds 2-4 hosting seeds 5-7.

Buckeyes By the Numbers

The Buckeyes are scoring 3.03 goals per game this season, allowing 3.70 a contest.
The power play is 17th nationally, converting 23.1 percent of its chances. The penalty kill has stopped 71.8 percent of its opponents' opportunities. Ohio State averages 11.77 penalty minutes a game. The Buckeyes are 20th nationally in faceoff winning percentage (.514).
Jake Karabela, Davis Burnside and Felix Caron lead the team with 25 points each. Max Montes (22) and Riley Thompson (20) are next.
Burnside and Montes have a team-best 12 goals and Caron has 11, while Adam Eiesle has 10.
Broten Sabo and Karabela are tied for first with helpers each this season. Caron and Ryan Gordon follow with 14 each.

Buckeyes vs. Spartans

Ohio State trails the all-time series with Michigan State, 59-103-13 and in East Lansing, the Spartans have the lead in the series, 55-23-7.
The teams faced off in Columbus Jan. 9-10. The Spartans claimed game one 6-2 before a 2-1 Buckeye victory.
The last series in East Lansing was Nov. 8-9, 2024 and Michigan State posted a sweep with 4-2 and 4-1 wins. The teams also faced off on Spartan home ice in the Big Ten Tournament final March 22, 2025, won in double overtime by Michigan State, 4-3.
Davis Burnside leads the current Buckeyes with 16 games played against Michigan State and is first with six goals and nine points. Max Montes is second with a 3-4-7 line in 12 games played against the Spartans. Ryan Gordon (3a), Nathan McBrayer and William Smith (4a) have also skated in 12 games against Michigan State. Riley Thompson had two goals and three assists for five points combined in seven games vs. MSU.
Three Buckeyes - Kristoffer Eberly (Pinckney), Sam Hillebrandt (St. Clair) and Bryce Ingles (Port Huron) - are Michigan natives.
Michigan State is first nationally in scoring defense, allowing 1.97 goals a game, and is fifth in scoring offense, with 3.83 goals per outing, ranking third in scoring margin (+1.87). The power play (.270) is ninth in the nation and the penalty kill has stopped 80.9 percent of its opponents' chances. The squad averages 17.70 penalty minutes a game, ranking second in the NCAA.
Porter Martone is third nationally in points per game (1.46) and Charlie Stramel is ninth (1.33). Martone ranks second in goals per game (.71), with Stramel 10th (.63). Daniel Russell is eighth nationally in assists per game (.90). In goal, Trey Augustine is fourth in the NCAA in save percentage (.932) and fifth in goals-against average (1.96).

Buckeye This and That

The Buckeyes have played in 13 one-goal games this campaign, with a 4-9 record in the contests.
Ohio State has played eight overtime games this season and is 1-6-1 in the outings. The Buckeyes are tied for seventh nationally in overtime games this year and are first with six overtime losses. Ohio State dropped its first four OT contests before defeating Minnesota Dec. 5 and then skating to a 2-2 tie against Bowling Green Jan. 3. The squad fell to Michigan Jan. 31 in overtime and at Penn State last Saturday. Last year, Ohio State had 10 games go into overtime, with a 5-3-2 mark.
On the power play, the Buckeyes are 24-for-104 (.231), ranking 17th in the NCAA. Last time out at Penn State, Ohio State was 1-for-3 in game one and 1-for-4 in game two. Felix Caron scored both power play goals.
Caron leads the Buckeyes with seven power play goals, including two last weekend, followed by Riley Thompson with six. Davis Burnside and Jake Karabela each have three. Adam Eisele, Nathan Lewis, Ryan Gordon, Thomas Weis and Max Montes have also tallied with the man advantage. Caron (7g, 7a) paces the Buckeyes with 14 power play points, followed by Burnside (3g, 8a) and Karabela (4g, 7a) with 11 each. Broten Sabo has a team-high 10 assists with the man advantage.
Ohio State has a .514 faceoff winning percentage (966-912) to rank 20th in the nation. Max Montes leads the Buckeye squad with 258 wins, while Jake Karabela has 205, Ryan Gordon has 200 and Riley Thompson has 189. Among Buckeyes with more than 40 faceoffs, Montes is first with a .561 winning percentage (258-202).
Ohio State is averaging 3.03 goals a game, with three or more goals in 17 games. The squad scored four goals in each game last weekend, with the eight goals matching the highest series total in the second half of the year.
The Buckeyes are allowing 3.70 goals per game and have allowed three or fewer in seven of 14 games since January.
Ohio State is 84-for-117 (.718) on the penalty kill this season. Against Penn State last week, the Buckeyes allowed seven power play goals on 11 total chances.
James Hong set up Max Montes for the Buckeyes' first shorthanded goal of the season last Saturday at Penn State.
The Buckeyes are averaging 32.2 shots a game this year. The squad had 42 in game one at Penn State, with 37 in game two, outshooting the Nittany Lions both nights.
Twenty-two Buckeyes have posted at least one point this season, with 18 scoring a goal and 22 notching at least one assist.

The Schedule Ahead

A series vs. Notre Dame closes the regular season, with puck drop at 6:30 p.m. March 5 and March 6. The games will be on B1G+ and Ohio State Radio.
Game one features Script Ohio on Ice during the first intermission and it is Dollar Dog night with $1 hot dogs.
Game two is Senior Night, with the Class of 2026 recognized pregame.
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