MADISON, Wis. – Despite outshooting the Spartans 46-26, the No. 4 Wisconsin men's hockey team fell, 5-2, to No. 6 Michigan State on Friday night at the Kohl Center. With the regulation victory, MSU took home the Big Ten regular season title.
Wisconsin (24-9-2, 15-7-1 Big Ten) took an early lead less than a minute into the game, but Michigan State (22-8-3, 16-5-2 Big Ten) tallied two in the first to make it 2-1 heading into the second. The Badgers tied it up on a power-play goal in the middle frame, but MSU netted the go-ahead tally with seven minutes remaining in the contest and tacked on two empty-net goals for the win.
Wisconsin opened the scoring 47 seconds into the first period. Senior forward David Silye skated the puck around the back of the net and gave it to sophomore forward Cruz Lucius in the middle of the right circle. Lucius took a shot, which rebounded off of Michigan State goaltender Trey Augustine all the way up to junior defenseman Daniel Laatsch near the left side of the blue line. Laatsch took a long shot and lit the lamp to give the Badgers the lead.
The Spartans tied it up with 14:32 left in the opening frame on a shot from Artyom Levshunov.
MSU took the lead with 1:49 remaining in the period when Jeremy Davidson capitalized on a UW turnover.
Wisconsin received a five-minute power play after a major penalty was called on the Spartans for boarding 10:29 into the second period.
Senior forward
Mathieu De St. Phalle tied the game up on the man advantage.
David Silye passed from the boards on the left side of the Spartan's zone up to sophomore defenseman
Ben Dexheimer. Dexheimer took a shot and De St. Phalle tipped it in to tally his 11th goal of the season.
The Badgers got a short-handed breakaway attempt by Simon Tassy in the third that was stopped, then Michigan State regained their lead with 7:10 remaining in the contest when Reed Lebster beat UW goaltender Kyle McClellan.
The Spartans added two empty-net goals in the final two minutes of the game to seal their victory.
Wisconsin went 1-for-4 on the power play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill. UW finished the contest with a 46-26 advantage in shots on goal.
Straight from the rink
Head Coach Mike Hastings
On learning from tonight's game
"I look at the overall game; I liked our start, we got a break, and I thought we took advantage of that. Then you look at the three that go by us, I haven't seen much of that this year, and so, the ebbs and flows of what goes on in games like this, they're learning moments.
For the most part, this year, we've learned a lot of moments on the positive. As a coach, over time, the ones that sting the most are the ones I remember and you learn from, and we will do that. This group's done a good job of looking in the mirror when things haven't been or haven't resulted in what they wanted to and I don't think they'll change tonight."
On MSU's Big Ten title
"Congratulations to Michigan State for winning. I think it's a very difficult championship to win. It doesn't sit well, but you have to tip your cap to them. We need to turn the page in a hurry because you've got another one tomorrow."
Senior forward Mathieu De St. Phalle
On tonight's loss
"Knowing we had a chance going into the third period in the tie game and they came out and grabbed it stings for sure. But right after the game, coach came in and said he's happy with the way we played. I think we made a couple of steps offensively, and it's a game of mistakes and something we can learn from for sure."
Senior forward David Silye
On moving forward
"The Big Ten is done, but there still is a lot to play for. The last regular season home game for some of us. Pairwise points, there is a lot of the line and we're excited. We need to flush it and move forward."
Notes to know:
- UW will close out the season in second place in the Big Ten standings, jumping up five spots from its seventh-place finish last year
- The Badgers have power-play goals in four straight games
- Wisconsin will host Ohio State for a quarterfinal best-of-three series in the Big Ten championship next Friday through Sunday, March 8-10
Up Next: The Badgers continue their series against Michigan State and play their final regular season game of the season on Saturday, March 2. The game starts at 8 p.m. on B1G+ and serves as Senior Night. Audio play-by-play airs on the Badgers Radio network, including 1310 WIBA in the Madison area and 97.3 The Game in Milwaukee. It also airs on the Badgers app and The Varsity Network app. Follow along on X/Twitter and Instagram @BadgerMHockey.
