No. 2 Spartans Pull Away in 9-3 Trouncing of No. 4 Minnesota

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- No. 2 Michigan State left no doubt in its 9-4 conquering of one of the top teams in the nation on Friday night.
The Spartans rolled to a demolishing 9-3 victory over No. 4 Minnesota in Game 1 of its home series against the Golden Gophers.
A total of seven Spartans scored goals in Michigan State's victory, two of whom did so twice -- junior forward Isaac Howard and senior defenseman David Gucciardi.
Howard, Gucciardi and sophomore defenseman Maxim Štrbák earned the First, Second and Third Stars of the Game honors, respectively.
Spartan sophomore goaltender Trey Augustine made 27 saves in the win.
Michigan State won both the shots-on-goal (42 to 30) and face-offs (44-20) battle. It scored one power-play goal and killed all three of the Gophers' power plays.
The Spartans were able to survive two Minnesota power plays in the first period, the penalties having been against junior forward Karsen Dorwart and sophomore forward Tommi Männistö for hooking and interference, respectively.
It was Michigan State that drew first blood, as senior forward Tanner Kelly found the back of the net just over 6-and-a-half minutes into the contest. He was assisted by Štrbák and Männistö.
The Spartans held that 1-0 edge for the rest of the period.
That score didn't last long beyond the first intermission, as Minnesota sophomore forward Oliver Moore sent one between the pipes less than half a minute into the second period.
But Michigan State answered rather quickly, as Männistö scored his own less than a minute-and-a-half later. He was assisted by freshman defenseman Vladislav Lukashevich and junior forward Tiernan Shoudy.
The Spartans' 2-1 advantage held up for a little while before the Gophers once again tied it with a goal from freshman forward Brodie Ziemer with 11:42 remaining in the second period.
Yet again, though, it didn't take long for Michigan State to answer as Gucciardi regained the lead for the Spartans less than a minute later. He was assisted by junior forward Charlie Stramel.
Roughly a minute-and-a-half later, the Gophers committed their first penalty of the contest. The Spartans would quickly capitalize, as junior forward Daniel Russell scored the power-play goal to give his team a two-goal edge.
Less than 2 minutes later, Michigan State struck again, as Gucciardi scored his second goal of the contest. Freshman forward Mikey DeAngelo and sophomore forward Griffin Jurecki were credited with the assists.
The Gophers would pull their goaltender, sophomore Nathan Airey. He was replaced by graduate goalie Liam Souliere.
Minnesota answered shortly after with a goal from junior forward Jimmy Snuggerud, who trimmed the deficit to 5-3. But that would be the Gophers' last one of the night.
Michigan State went on to run away with the contest after the second intermission, scoring four unanswered goals in the final period -- two from Howard, one from Stramel and one from sophomore defenseman Patrick Geary, his first of the season.
The Spartans improve to 20-3-2 on the year, now standing at 11-2-2 in conference play. They will look to pull off the sweep against the Gophers when the two meet at Munn Ice Arena again on Saturday. Puck-drop is set for 7:30 p.m.
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