Buckeyes Tie No. 1 Spartans, 3-3

Saturday, February 28

East Lansing, Mich.

8 p.m.

Ohio State

12-18-2, 8-13-1

Michigan State

24-7-1, 15-6-1

OT 1

OT 2

Ohio St.

Michigan St.

Buckeyes Tie No. 1 Spartans, 3-3

2/28/2026 11:24:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey

Box Score

Ohio State goes 1-0-1 in final road series of regular season

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State men's hockey team skated to a 3-3 overtime tie at No. 1 Michigan State Saturday in Munn Ice Arena in East Lansing, Mich. The Buckeyes (12-18-2, 8-13-1 B1G) earned four B1G points with a 1-0-1 record in the weekend series vs. the Spartans (24-7-1, 15-6-1) after a 5-1 win Friday. Saturday, Michigan State won the shootout, 3-2 in 13 rounds, for the extra Big Ten point.

The Short Story
The Spartans opened the scoring with a power play tally but two Buckeye goals in a 1:11 span from Riley Thompson and Niall Crocker put Ohio State ahead. Michigan State tied the game with less than three minutes remaining in the first. Buckeye Jake Rozzi notched the only goal of the second for a 3-2 Ohio State lead through 40 minutes. A power play goal for the Spartans at 7:04 of the third deadlocked the game again and neither team scored the rest of the way. Davis Burnside led the Buckeyes with two assists and points.

The Buckeyes were outshot, 37-31, with Kristoffer Eberly making 34 saves. Ohio State blocked 18 Spartan shot attempts.

Ohio State has played nine overtime games this season and is 1-6-2 in the outings.

The Schedule Ahead

A home series vs. Notre Dame closes the regular season, with puck drop at 6:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday. 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 – Davis Burnside, Jake Dunlap, Adam Eisele and Ethan Straky - recognized pregame.
Promotional Schedule & Information | Ticket Information

How it Happened

The Spartans converted an early power play chance with a goal at 2:08 of the first period.
Ohio State notched the next two. Chris Able set up Riley Thompson in the high slot at 12:02 and just 1:09 later Max Montes found Niall Crocker for a wrist shot in front. Jake Karabela had the second assist on the Thompson goal and Davis Burnside picked up a helper on the Crocker score.
Michigan State tied the game at 17:13 and the teams ended the first period tied at two.
The lone goal of the second came from Buckeye Jake Rozzi at 17:19 when Burnside found him in front. Sam Deckhut had the second assist on the score.
The Spartans had the edge in shots in the first, 14-11, and Ohio State was ahead in the second, 13-10.
At 7:04 of the third, Michigan State tallied with 10 seconds left on a power play for a 3-3 game.
Buckeye goalie Kristoffer Eberly made 11 saves in the third, as the Spartans outshot the Buckeyes, 12-6, in the stanza.
The teams went to overtime tied at three and each squad had one shot on net in the extra session.
The game went to a shootout to determine the extra point in the league standings, with Michigan State winning 3-2 in 13 rounds. Davis Burnside and Ryan Gordon both scored to extend the shootout and Eberly was 10-for-13 vs. the Spartans.
Eberly played 64:25 and had 34 saves in the game. The Buckeyes blocked 18 Spartan shot attempts – Able, Felix Caron, James Hong, Burnside, Sam McGinley, William Smith and Karabela each had two blocks.
Ohio State was scoreless on two power play chances, both in the first period, and the Spartans were 2-for-3.

Buckeye This and That

Burnside had his third two-point outing in the last six games. It was his sixth career two-assist outing and his third of the season. He shares the team lead with 28 points (12g, 16a) and now has 107 points as a Buckeye, with the game vs. the Spartans the 150th outing of his Ohio State career.
Thompson is on a five-game point streak, with a goal and five assists in the stretch. He has 22 points (10g, 12a) this year.
Karabela shares the point lead with 28 and has a team-best 17 assists.
The game was the 100th career outing for William Smith.
Rozzi's goal was his first since March 9, 2025 vs. Wisconsin.
Montes is third on the team with 25 points and he had a team-high four points in the series vs. the Spartans.
Eberly had a 1.93 goals-against average and .933 save percentage in the series.