Junior forward Justin Abdelkader is congratulated by sophomore defenseman Michael Ratchuk after Abdelkader’s goal in the second period of Friday’s game against Northen Michigan at Munn Ice Arena. The Spartans won the first game of the series 5-1 after being swept by the Wildcats in February in Marquette.
The MSU hockey team has struggled in third periods at times this season.
But against Northern Michigan on Friday night, the Spartans turned a one-goal game into a four-goal blowout, scoring three times in the final stanza to knock-off the Wildcats, 5-1, at Munn Ice Arena.
The Spartans lead the best-of-three CCHA Quarterfinal series 1-0. MSU can clinch a berth in the CCHA semifinals at Joe Louis Arena with a win tomorrow.
“It’s like (the players) were in there saying to themselves, ‘It’s about time we had a real good third period,’” MSU head coach Rick Comley said. “Sometimes, we have a tendency to sit back on leads … tonight we built on it.”
The Wildcats (17-19-4 overall) stunned the Spartans early, taking a 1-0 lead on a shorthanded goal by Mark Olver.
But MSU (24-9-5) bounced back quickly, as senior captain Bryan Lerg scored on a wrap-around 36 seconds later to tie the game.
The game was quite a contrast from the last time the two teams met. When the Wildcats swept the Spartans in early February, MSU had trouble getting anything through the passing and shooting lanes.
It was evident when junior forward Justin Abdelkader scored late in the second period that the Spartans came prepared for Northern Michigan’s defensive attack.
Junior forward Tim Kennedy slid a cross-ice pass to Abdelkader, whose one-timer was behind Wildcats goaltender Brian Stewart before the netminder could even slide over.
“We’ve watched a lot of video the last couple weeks,” Comley said. “We got the puck to spots we’ve identified that we can get the puck to the net on them. Tonight we were able to.”
MSU’s 2-1 lead looked tenuous early in the third period when senior forward Chris Mueller took a tripping penalty 38 seconds in.
The Spartans easily killed the penalty, though, giving the team the momentum it needed to go on a big run.
Junior forward Nick Sucharski got the ball rolling with a quick snapshot from the bottom of the circle that beat Stewart on the short side.
Junior forward Tim Crowder made it 4-1 at 11:04 on a shot that went off a Northern Michigan player.
Kennedy capped things off when he darted down the left wing, and his shot from in tight went off the post, off Stewart and in. It was his 19th of the season.
That spelled the end of the night for Stewart, who departed with just over six minutes to play having made 35 saves.
On the other end, junior Jeff Lerg was a rock for the Spartans, including a glove save on Gregor Hanson that kept the game deadlocked at one in the first period.
Comley said the save, one of Lerg’s 24 in the night, bought the team some time.
“That got me back in the game after I gave up the one shorthanded goal,” Lerg said. “That was a nice confidence booster there and we never looked back after that point. We started to play good hockey and get pressure on them.”
The two teams meet at 7:05 p.m. Saturday.
Support student media! Please consider donating to The State News and help fund the future of journalism.
“We don’t have to play a different game, we don’t have to change anything,” Comley said. “We just have to come out and be us.”
