Three Spartan Defensemen Find the Back of the Net as No. 3 MSU Defeats Notre Dame, 5-2
After what was one of its worst series of the season against then-No. 18 Penn State, No. 3 Michigan State got back on track in the first game of its weekend road series against Notre Dame.
The Spartans handled the Fighting Irish, 5-2, to improve to 23-6-4 and 14-5-4 in conference play.
It took a little while for the scoring to come, but when it did, it came in a pair, as Michigan State scored the first two goals of the game less than 2-and-half-minutes apart.
Senior defenseman David Gucciardi struck first with 8:05 to play in the first period. He was assisted by junior forwards Joey Larson and Karsen Dorwart.
It would then be junior Matt Basgall's turn to represent the defenseman as he found the back of the net off assists from freshman defenseman Vladislav Lukashevich and junior forward Tommy Männistö.
Michigan State would take that 2-0 lead into the second period.
The Spartans were unable to stretch their lead to 3-0, as Notre Dame finally got on the board with a power-play goal with roughly 5 minutes remaining before the second intermission.
But Michigan State would put one in before that, as Dorwart sent one between the pipes with just under 2 minutes remaining in the period, giving his team a comfortable two-goal lead that it would carry into the third.
With less than 11-and-a-half minutes gone in the final period, yet another Michigan State defenseman, this time, sophomore Maxim Štrbák, added to the scoreboard, putting the game all but out of reach. He was assisted by junior forward Tiernan Shoudy and Männistö.
Notre Dame would strike just once more less than a minute later, but the Spartans were able to hold off any kind of a comeback from there.
Junior forward Isaac Howard added the cherry on top with a goal of his own, his 23rd of the year, with 1:18 to go. He was assisted by junior forward Daniel Russell.
Michigan State and Notre Dame will battle it out again in what will be the final regular-season game for each team on Saturday at 6 p.m.
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