“We had no offense, I mean nothing,” MSU head coach Rick Comley said. “(We are going to struggle) until we can get some offense and some energy.”

UMass-Lowell (1-1-0 overall) was able to capitalize on its power play chances, going 2-for-7 with the man advantage.

The Spartans (1-2-0) had six power plays, but were unable to get set up in the offensive zone during most of them.

Comley wasn’t just unhappy with the lack of goals or power play chances, he was let down by the team’s overall lack of effort.

“I’m disappointed with everything, really,” he said. “There’s not one area more than any other.”

Lerg thought a week’s worth of offensive practice would have benefited the young team.

“We worked on getting offensive chances and we only had 16 shots — that’s disappointing,” he said. “We have to tell (the freshmen) that you can’t just expect to show up and that the ‘W’ is going to go up on the board. You have to go out and earn it.”

The Spartans struggled to find their legs early, as the first period was littered with turnovers and passes gone astray.

The Spartans earned a power play two minutes into the game but were unable to gain entry into the UMass-Lowell zone for the power play’s duration and spent more time chasing the cleared puck into their own end.

Then, seven minutes later, UMass-Lowell capitalized on an MSU turnover to take the lead. The River Hawks entered the offensive zone on a 3-on-1 and the puck was passed to forward Patrick Cey, who unleashed a wrist shot that beat Lerg over left shoulder.

The Spartans started the second period fast looking to turn it into their game, which culminated when junior defenseman Ryan Turek laid a heavy, open-ice hit on a UMass-Lowell forward at center ice.

The River Hawks shortly thereafter took the momentum back and kept it throughout the second period, firing 10 shots at Lerg — upping his total to 23 shots faced, but they were unable to beat the senior captain.

UMass-Lowell extended its lead to 2-0 four minutes into the third period on the power play. Lerg came out to cut the angle on a wrist shot from the top of right circle, but the puck missed the net and took a huge bounce off the boards.

UMass-Lowell’s Scott Campbell was camped out in front of the crease and after a teammate passed him the puck he just had to tap it into the wide-open net.

The hole grew deeper for the Spartans at 14:06 as they gave up another power play goal. Defenseman Maury Edwards received a pass at the top of the left circle and fired a slap shot over Lerg and into the top-shelf of the net.

The Spartans were unable to give themselves a chance to get on the board at the end of the game, as they committed four penalties in the last two minutes.

The Spartans will get another shot at the River Hawks at 7:05 p.m. tonight at Munn.

“We’ve got a long way to go and we have to come back and get better,” Comley said. “We just need to keep playing.”