EAST LANSING – Minnesota was one very selfish hockey team on Friday night at Munn Arena.
The Gophers wouldn’t let Michigan State have the puck after the first 10 minutes of the game. It’s tough to score when you don’t have the puck and, of course, it’s tough to win when you can’t put the puck in the net.
Minnesota won the time of possession by a wide margin and held an edge in most all of the key moments in the game, and the end result was a solid 4-2 victory over the Spartans in the first game of the Big Ten series. 
The Gophers (8-5-2, 2-1 Big Ten) held Michigan State (4-7, 0-1) to three shots on goal in each of the second and third periods, but despite having numerous great scoring chances, Minnesota couldn’t put the game away until Darian Romanko’s empty-net goal with 61 seconds left in the third period.
Minnesota outshot the Spartans 44-14, and had 11 shots on goal during five power plays, but couldn’t solve MSU goalie Ed Minney, who made a career-high 40 saves, with the extra attacker.
Minney and penalty killing were the only bright spots for the Spartans, who saw their three-game unbeaten streak come to an end at the hands of a Gophers’ team which seemed desperate to make amends for last Saturday’s embarrassing 8-3 home loss to Ohio State.
“The whole night, we were chasing the puck. They had possession all night long,’’ MSU coach Tom Anastos said. “They won all the puck battles, all the races, they were stronger one-on-one on pucks and we weren’t hard enough to play against.
“I liked the way we started. I liked the first 8-10 minutes of the game. When they got that fluky goal (to tie it 1-1) that seemed to change the momentum, and along with the penalties we took, that took a lot of energy from us and we never recovered.’’
For sure, the Spartans got off to a solid start, playing with good energy. They took a 1-0 lead on senior left wing JT Stenglein’s first goal of the season just 3:30 into the game. Stenglein fired a low wrist shot from deep in the left circle and the puck went between the legs of Minnesota goaltender Eric Schierhorn.
A few minutes later, MSU had another good scoring chance that could have made it 2-0, but Schierhorn made a save on Stenglein’s shot off a 2-on-1 rush with Thomas Ebbing.
The Gophers didn’t get their first shots on goal until 6:20 of the period.
About four-and-a-half minutes later, Minnesota tied it after a scramble around the net, with Justin Kloos picking up a rebound near the goal line on the right and shooting the puck off goalie Ed Minney’s back and into the net at 10:54.
“The score was close and it was close because of Ed Minney. He had an excellent game,’’ Anastos said. “Our penalty killing was also a bright spot against a very good power play.
“But other than that, I’m really unhappy with our grit and tenacity tonight. That’s a good team and I give them lots of credit. But I know we can be more tenacious that we were. Maybe that’s part of the learning process, but I’m not happy how we played.’’
The Gophers dominated the second period, outshooting the Spartans, 13-3. But they didn’t take the lead until after the halfway point in the period.
Minnesota, which moved the puck around with great precision most of the game, capped a nice passing play at 12:26 with Tyler Sheehy getting open in the right circle for a perfect pass from the left circle from Kloss. He quickly fired the puck into the top right corner for a 2-1 lead.
Just 1 minute and 53 seconds later, the Gophers got gift goal – probably Minney’s only mistake of the night – to take a 3-1 lead.
Minney went behind the net to handle a puck on a waved-off icing and was pressured by a Gopher forward. He went to clear the puck toward the boards to his left, but instead slid it out into the right circle. Unfortunately for Minney and the Spartans, the Gophers’ Vinny Lettieri was right there and he easily hit a wide-open net to give his team a two-goal lead at 14:19.
“I really don’t know what I was looking at, honestly,’’ Minney said. “The minute the puck left my stick . . . my stick actually broke when I passed it. It cracked right in the middle of the shaft, so it wasn’t like it really affected it.
“It was just a crummy play by me and it went right on their stick and right into the net.’’
Michigan State got a big lift with three minutes left in the second period when its top forward line combined to make an excellent play in the Gophers’ zone to cut the deficit to 3-2.
Mason Appleton forced Minnesota defenseman Jack Glover to give up the puck along the right boards near the goal line. The puck came loose and slid up the boards to MSU’s Patrick Khodorenko and he found Taro Hirose open between two defenders in front of the net with a perfect pass. Hirose got the puck on his stick and fired it past Shierhorn into the top right corner at 16:57, and suddenly MSU was back in the game.
The Spartans, trying to keep the momentum in the third period, hurt themselves by taking penalties at 6:10, 9:23 and 15:42. And while MSU survived the Gophers power play, it hurt its chances of possessing the puck and putting pressure on Minnesota’s defense.
And despite being outplayed, Michigan State came within a whisker of tying it early in the final period. Defenseman Mitch Eliot’s shot from the right point deflected off a Gopher in the right circle and went right to Khodorenko, standing near the left edge of the crease and looking at an open net.
Khodorenko stopped the puck and flicked it toward the net, but it slid through the crease and went wide to the right.
MSU didn’t threaten much late in period but still had hopes that one rush might click, until Minnesota’s sealed the win with Romanko’s empty-netter from left boards near center ice.
“It’s hard to shoot when you don’t have the puck. You have to win battles and have to think about shooting the puck when you have the opportunities to shoot in a game like that,’’ Anastos said. “Somehow, we were still in the game. And yet, Patty Khodorenko has an open net and misses. (If it goes in) it’s a 3-3 game.’’
The Spartans will try to earn a split of their first Big Ten series when it faces the Gophers in the second game at 8 p.m. Saturday at Munn Arena.
“I know we can compete better than we competed tonight. I know we can be more tenacious than that and I know we can be stronger on one-on-ones and win more battles,’’ Anastos said. “I know we can get to the front of the net better than we did.
“I’ll give (Minnesota) credit, but I know we can be better.’’
Match re[port by Neil Koepke MSUSpartans.com staff writer
You must be logged in to post a comment.