EAST LANSING, Mich. — Colin Theisen and Cal Burke each scored as the #8 Irish overcame a 1-0 deficit to top Michigan State, 2-1, tonight at the Munn Ice Arena (4,867). With the victory, Notre Dame extends its win streak to three games and improves to 7-4-1 overall (4-2-0 B1G) on the season.
Cale Morris had a busy first period and posted 12 saves as the Irish were forced to kill off two Spartan power plays in the opening 20 minutes. The junior made back-to-back saves on Patrick Khodorenko and Cody Milan from the slot midway through the period to keep Michigan State off the board.
Early in the second period, just after Notre Dame killed off Michigan State’s third power-play chance of the night, a rebound fell right to Khodorenko at the bottom of the circles, who put the Spartans up 1-0 on his seventh goal of the season.
Notre Dame then rallied to take a 2-1 lead after two periods of play. Theisen tied it at 1-1 when he fired home a rebound at 7:34. Then Burke added a power-play goal at 14:55, his seventh goal of the season.
With Spartans’ goaltender John Lethemon pulled, the Irish killed off a six-on-four Michigan State advantage over the final 1:14 of regulation to preserve the one-goal victory.
Morris finished with 28 saves to earn his fifth victory of the season between the pipes for Notre Dame.
Special teams helped lead to the Irish win as Notre Dame went 1-for-2 on the power play and also held Michigan State to a 0-for-4 mark on the man advantage.
NOTRE DAME GOAL DESCRIPTIONS
1-1 | Bobby Nardella cleared the puck up the far boards. Jake Pivonka picked it up and chipped it around a Spartan in the neutral zone and then drove the net and took a hit but got a shot off that resulted in a big rebound for Theisen to fire home for his fourth of the season at 7:34 of the second period.
2-1 | Burke fired home his seventh goal of the season at 14:55 of the second period when his wrist shot from the slot beat Lethemon low as the Irish were skating on the power play. He was set up on the play by a quick Dylan Malmquist feed from the bottom of the near circle, with the second assist going to Andrew Peeke.
NEXT UP
- Notre Dame will have next weekend off before returning to play three home non-conference games the following week.
- On Tuesday, Nov. 27, the Irish will play host to Northern Michigan (7:30 PM).
- Notre Dame will then welcome RPI to the Compton Family Ice Arena for a two-game series on Nov. 30 (7 PM) and Dec. 1 (7 PM).
- Friday night’s game against the Engineers will be televised on the NBC Sports Network.
NOTES
- Notre Dame improved to 5-1-0 against Michigan State since joining the Big Ten conference.
- Brothers Matt and Alex Steeves played on the same line for the first time in their Notre Dame careers.
- With an assist, Bobby Nardella pushed his point streak to three games (1-2-3).
- With an assist, Andrew Peeke has a two-game point streak (0-2-2).
- Cale Morris stopped 55 of the 57 shots he faced over the weekend versus the Spartans for a .961 save percentage.
- Cal Burke notched his first game-winning goal of the season and the fifth of his career.
- Notre Dame is now 5-1-0 on the road this season (6-1-1 in road and neutral site games combined).
- Over the last two seasons, the Irish are now 16-3-1 in road games (20-5-2 over the past two seasons in road and neutral site games combined).
LET’S TAKE THIS OUTSIDE
- Notre Dame and Michigan will meet at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, January 5, 2019 in an outdoor game at Notre Dame Stadium.
- The rivals will meet four days following the 2019 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic® featuring the Chicago Blackhawks and Boston Bruins, on January 1, 2019.
- Just four months after Notre Dame and Michigan met in a football game at Notre Dame Stadium that saw the Irish post a 24-17 victory, the rivalry will take to the ice in the House That Rockne Built in a game that will be televised by the NBC Sports Network.
- Tickets for the game are on sale now, visit und.com/buytickets or call 833-ND-IRISH and keep up to date with all ticketing information by following us on Twitter @NDtix.
— ND —