However, the Spartans rose above a costly mistake when junior forward Kevin Walrod picked up a rebound on a shot attempt by sophomore defenseman Jake Chelios at 18:50 to give the Spartans the go-ahead goal — along with an empty-netter by junior defenseman Torey Krug — to secure the 4-2 win against the No. 19 Lakers.

The win gives the Spartans three points and moves them into a tie for fourth with LSSU in the CCHA standings.

“It was a big for us I think, especially after kind of a bad goal by them,” Walrod said. “I think our team really showed some poise and bounced back. We went hard to the net after that for the next three minutes and got a goal — the go-ahead goal.”

Less than 30 seconds into the game, the Lakers pounced at the opportunity to draw first blood. Forward Fred Cassiani took a shot a sophomore goalie Will Yanakeff would bounce off his pads. Cassiani collected the rebound and flipped it in the net from about eight feet away to put LSSU on top, 1-0.

The Spartans got back into it with a goal by senior forward Mike Merrifield at 9:03. With MSU pressing in the offensive zone, sophomore forward Lee Reimer sent a shot that carried around the net. With Laker netminder Kevin Kapalka out of position looking for the save, Merrifield put the puck in the open net on the rebound off the wall to tie the game, 1-1.

The goal was Merrifield’s team-leading tenth tally of the season.

Two minutes later, senior forward Brett Perlini would add another to give the Spartans the lead. Perlini carried the puck through the neutral zone and fired a shot from the top of the left circle that got by Kapalka to put the Spartans ahead by a goal.

Since the series with Miami (Ohio), the Spartans haven’t been able to shake a pattern of late-period goals against and it continued on Friday. Crandell picked up the puck from behind Yankakeff and attempted to clear it. On the attempt, the puck hit Lain and bounced in the net to tie the game 2-2.

Facing another overtime session, Walrod’s tally would come a little more than a minute later, and it brought out a late sense of relief on the bench and in the stands. Walrod said the team displayed a distinctive resiliency it hasn’t seen during the past several weeks and it was refreshing to come out on the right side for once.

“We’ve been harping about (late-period goals) in practice all week because obviously the last couple weeks we’ve been giving up those,” Walrod said. “When it happened again, I think the guys came together this time and really made an effort, especially when the puck dropped.”

With Kapalka on the bench, Krug’s empty-net goal from MSU’s own blue line at 19:45 sealed the deal and sent the Spartans home with the decisive home victory.

In a battle of strong goaltenders, Yanakeff gave arguably his best effort of the season in a 45-save performance to improve his personal record on the season to 8-4-0. The Spartans also improved their own record and move to 13-9-3 with an 8-7-2-2 mark in the CCHA.

MSU concludes its six-game homestand on Saturday in the back end of a two-game series with the Lakers at Munn Ice Arena.

“Our game — there were parts of it we liked and parts of it that we didn’t like,” head coach Tom Anastos said.

“Obviously, responding after than unusual goal — I don’t know what else to call it — but I was really happy with the poise the guys showed and heart that they showed and fighting off. After working so hard and giving up that kind of goal and coming back and getting one.”