Nov. 20, 2010
Notre Dame, Ind. – After an uneventful first period that saw Notre Dame and Michigan State trade nine shots between them, the two teams came alive in the second period to combine for seven goals as the Irish scored five times to open a 5-2 lead on the way to a 6-2 victory over the Spartans in front of a sell-out crowd at the Joyce Center Friday night.
Senior center Ben Ryan paced Notre Dame with three points on the night; all on assists while Joe Lavin (SHG), Calle Ridderwall, Jeff Costello, T.J.Tynan (PPG), Mike Voran and Anders Lee all scored single goals in the win.
Michigan State kept pace early in the second on goals by Derek Grant and Greg Wolfe but never got closer than 2-1 and 3-2 deficits in the loss.
The win was the fifth straight this season for Notre Dame at home and gives the Irish a seven-game home winning streak dating back to Jan. 30 of last season when they won their final two home games of the year. Notre Dame is now 8-3-1 overall and improves to 6-2-1-1 in the CCHA, good for 20 points and sole possession of first place in the standings, one point ahead of second-place Michigan. The Spartans fall to 4-4-3 on the year and 2-4-1-0 in conference play.
The Irish are now 6-0-3 in their last nine games with Michigan State, including 4-0-1 in the last five at the Joyce Center.
“All in all I thought we played pretty well tonight,” said Irish head coach Jeff Jackson. “I was really pleased that we played a smart third period. That makes all the difference.”
After a scoreless opening period that saw the Irish out shoot the Spartans by a 5-4 margin, both teams saw their offenses come to life in the second period.
Notre Dame got on the board first, scoring short-handed at 2:47 of the middle period as Lavin combined with Ben Ryan and Ridderwall for his third goal of the season and second via the short-handed goal.
Ridderwall and Ryan broke out of the Irish zone and had a two-on-one chance. Ridderwall drove toward the net and Ryan fed the puck from the right circle to Lavin who came late on the play. The senior defenseman whipped a shot from the left circle past goaltender Drew Palmisano and Notre Dame had a 1-0 lead.
“We like to move the puck on the penalty kill. We like to play it like a 5-on-5,” said Lavin, the team captain.
“We use each other really well. Every time the puck goes up the ice and there’s a chance the forwards are caught deep because they are looking to create offense and it gives us the odd-man rush. Benny (Ryan) made a great pass and Calle (Ridderwall) drove the net and that just freed me up for the easy shot.”
The lead would go to 2-1 at 5:53 when Ridderwall took scored just seven seconds after a Michigan State penalty to Matt Crandell expired. Ryan picked up his second assist of the night when he moved the puck from behind the Spartan goal to Ryan Guentzel at the left circle. Guentzel found Ridderwall alone in the slot and the senior left wing buried it behind Palmisano for his seventh goal of the year.
The two-goal lead lasted just seven seconds as Michigan State cut the lead in half at the 6:00-minute mark when Grant fired a rebound past Irish goaltender Mike Johnson for his second goal of the season.
Brett Perlini got a shot from the right circle on goal that Johnson stopped but couldn’t control the rebound. Grant was there on the doorstep to whip it past Johnson to make it 2-1.
The Irish would get the two-goal lead back at 10:15 when Lavin set up Costello for his second goal of the season.
Lavin carried the puck toward the goal and dropped a pass that Costello fired through Palmisano’s pads, giving Notre Dame a 3-1 lead.
The Spartans made it 3-2 at 14:36 on a goal by Wolfe, his first career score. The freshman center benefitted from crazy bounces as Perlini fired a shot off the glass that appeared to bounce of Johnson’s back and hit Wolfe in the leg and into the net. The goal was reviewed and counted to make it a one-goal game.
From there, the freshman trio of Tynan, Lee and Voran took over, as they would score the next three goals for the Irish. Tynan got the crucial goal that restored the two-goal lead as he scored via the power play at 17:29 to make it 4-2.
Ryan picked up his third assist of the night as he moved the puck to Billy Maday on the left wing boards. Maday slid it back to Tynan at the center point and the freshman drilled a slap shot past Palmisano for his sixth goal of the season.
Exactly one minute later at 18:29, strong forechecking by Voran gave the Irish a 5-2 lead. Sean Lorenz fired the puck behind the Michigan State goal and Palmisano went out to play it. Voran took the puck off his stick on the right side of the goal and flipped the puck under the cross bar for his second goal of the season and a three-goal lead for Notre Dame.
“I thought the first period was pretty evenly played as was the second,” said Jackson.
“We were very fortunate to score at the end of a power play and to get a short-handed goal. Those were huge goals. We haven’t been doing a lot on the power play but tonight we were better. Special teams were important. We’ve been getting chances, we just haven’t finished.”
Palmisano was replaced in goal to start the third period by freshman Will Yanakeff who was making his first collegiate appearance.
Lee closed out the scoring at 6:18 when he tucked the rebound of a Voran shot under Yanakeff for his team-high ninth goal of the season. Lee stick handled around the Spartan defense and lost control of the puck. Voran got a shot off with the rebound coming to Lee who finished the play off for the final score of 6-2.
“Our freshmen are having success because of the great job the upper classmen are doing with them,” said Jackson.
“They’ve opened the door for them to not feel any pressure. They have to be part of the team but when push comes to shove, it’s got to be the seniors and juniors who step up and tonight they did a good job early in the game.”
The Irish out shot Michigan State, 31-19, in the game with Johnson making 17 saves in picking up his sixth win of the season. Palmisano made 13 saves in 40 minutes of action while Yanakeff stopped 12-of-13 shots in his first appearance of the year.
The game was the first home game for the Irish since Oct. 29. They will face the Spartans on Saturday night in a 5:05 p.m. game at the Joyce Center.
** IRISH NOTES **
* Friday night’s sell-out crowd at the Joyce Center was the 12th straight for the Irish dating back to the 2009-10 season. Notre Dame has had sellouts in 28 of its last 32 home games, dating back to Dec. 13, 2008.
* The seven-game home winning streak is the longest for the Irish since an eight-game home winning streak from Oct. 12, 2006 to Dec. 31, 2006.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 3 - Frv/#17 Michigan State (4-4-3/2-4-1-0) 0 2 0 - 2#11/#11 Notre Dame (8-3-1/6-2-1-1) 0 5 1 - 6
Scoring First Period: No Scoring.
Penalties: MSU: 1 for 2 minutes; ND: 2 for 4 minutes.
Second Period: ND: Joe Lavin 3 (Ben Ryan, Calle Ridderwall), SHG, 2:47; ND: Ridderwall 7 (Ryan Guentzel, B. Ryan), 5:53; MSU: Derek Grant 2 (Brett Perlini), 6:00; ND: Jeff Costello 2 (Lavin), 10:15; MSU: Greg Wolfe 1 (Perlini, Zach Golembiewski), 14:36; ND: T.J. Tynan 6 (Billy Maday, B. Ryan), PPG, 17:29; ND: Mike Voran 2 (unassisted), 18:29.
Penalties: MSU: 3 for 6 minutes; ND: 1 for 2 minutes.
Third Period: ND: Anders Lee 9 (Voran, Tynan), 6:18.
Penalties: MSU: 2 for 4 minutes; ND: 1 for 2 minutes.
Shots On Goal:Michigan State 4 - 9 - 6 - 19Notre Dame 5 - 13 - 13 - 31
Goaltender Saves:MSU: Drew Palmisano (40:00) 5 - 8 - x - 13 Will Yanakeff (20:00) x - x - 12 - 12ND: Mike Johnson (60:00) 4 - 7 - 6 - 17
Power Plays:MSU: 0 for 3ND: 1 for 5
Attendance: 2,859 (sellout)