Nov. 20, 2010
Notre Dame, Ind. – Short-handed goals by defenseman Sean Lorenz and center T.J. Tynan in the final 2:23 of the game snapped a 2-2 tie to give Notre Dame a 4-2 win over Michigan State in front of a sold-out Joyce Center Saturday evening.
Ben Ryan and Jeff Costello (ppg) scored Notre Dame’s first two goals of the night to offset Spartan goals by Dean Chelios and Torey Krug, setting up a wild ending that saw the Irish given two major penalties in the final eight minutes, leading to the short-handed goals. Krug’s goal came on the power play at 15:35 of the third to tie the game at 2-2.
The win ran Notre Dame’s home winning streak this season to six straight was the eighth straight home win for the Irish dating back to Jan. 30 of last season. The Irish are now 9-3-1 on the season and improved to 7-2-1-1 in the CCHA, good for 23 points and first place in the conference. Michigan State falls to 4-5-3 on the year and 2-5-1-0 in the CCHA.
With the Irish leading 2-1 and the Irish on a power play at 11:58 an Irish shot on goal resulted on a scrum to the left of Spartan’s goaltender Will Yanakeff. Krug was whistled off for a crosschecking minor while Ryan received a five-minute major for grabbing Krug’s facemask.
The Spartans killed off the original penalty and after Krug’s penalty expired went on the power play with the sophomore defenseman scoring on a shot from the slot after assists from Anthony Hayes and Derek Grant.
With a major penalty, Michigan State remained on the power play, which became a 5-on-3 when Calle Ridderwall was given a five-minute major for boarding at 16:23.
Following a face off in the right wing circle, junior Billy Maday blocked a shot and the puck came out to the neutral zone as Ryan’s penalty expired. He and Ryan Guentzel got the puck deep into the Spartan’s zone when Guentzel saw junior defenseman Sean Lorenz coming late on the play. He centered it to Lorenz who whipped a wrist shot from between the circles past Yanakeff at 17:37 for his second goal of the season and an Irish short-handed goal to make it 3-2.
“We were on the PK and Guents (Ryan Guentzel) found a seam,” said Lorenz.
“I don’t know how he did it but it was a good look by him. I knew I was wide open and I just wanted to get a good shot off. I guess you get lucky when you close your eyes and shoot. Coach always talks about killing the penalty first and then if there is a chance, take it and go for the odd-man rush.”
The Irish still had to kill off the final 2:23 of Ridderwall’s major and as the game wound down, the Spartans pulled Yanakeff with 35 seconds left to make it a 6-on-4. Defenseman Joe Lavin was able to clear the puck all the way down the ice to the right wing corner and Tynan beat the Spartan defense to it and fired it from the goal line into and empty net with 25 seconds left in the game for his seventh goal of the year and a 4-2 final score.
“We were very fortunate tonight and that had to do with some character efforts by a lot of guys,” said Irish head coach Jeff Jackson.
“You can’t expect what happened tonight to happen all the time. You can’t take those kinds of penalties late in the game and expect to win a hockey game. That was as weird a last five minutes as I’ve seen. We took a couple of bad penalties and it was two of our best penalty killers. You are just looking at the clock and holding your breath.”
Jackson continued, “This win had a lot to do with some of the guys who were out there in that situation at the end. Some of the defensemen and (junior center) Billy Maday, who has never really had a chance to practice the 5-on-3 penalty kill. That’s what happens with two guys in the box who are our main guys on the penalty kill. He (Maday) blocked a huge shot with 35 seconds left on the 5-on-3. That might have been the game. Other kids that don’t get a ton of time on the penalty kill like T.J. Tynan and Bryan Rust, filled in and did a great job.”
After winning 6-2 on Friday night in the series opener, the Irish got a break just 22 seconds into the game when Ryan was hauled down on a breakaway and awarded a penalty shot, the first by a Notre Dame player since Ryan Thang had one on Jan. 31, 2009. The senior center was stopped on his scoring big by Yanakeff.
Ryan made the most of his second chance of the game at 6:53 when he gave the Irish a 1-0 lead, cashing in a 2-on-1 with Ridderwall. Freshman right wing Mike Voran sprung the duo with a pass off the right wing boards. Ridderwall carried the puck into the Michigan State zone and pulled the defense toward him, hitting Ryan with a pass in the left circle. Ryan one-timed a wrist shot past Yanakeff for his second goal of the season.
Chelios would even the score at 15:49 with his first goal of the season when he scored off the rebound of a shot by Daultan Leveille.
The Irish would take a 2-1 lead at 8:49 of the second period on a power-play goal by Costello. Again Voran was in the middle of the play, picking up his fourth point of the weekend. Defenseman Stephen Johns fired a shot from the right point that Yanakeff stopped. Voran controlled the rebound and tried to move the puck in front. The puck came free to Costello on the left post and he wasted little time tucking it under the crossbar for his third goal of the season.
The score would stay that way until Krug’s goal set off the game’s wild ending.
Notre Dame out shot Michigan State, 23-20, in the game. Johnson finished with 18 saves in the game and picked up his second win of the weekend. Yanakeff, making his first career start, made 19 saves in the loss.
“Michigan State is a tough team to play against,” said Jackson.
“I thought they played with a lot of desperation. They played very well and made it challenging to get passes through. That’s their game and when they do it well, they are a very effective team.
The win closed out Notre Dame’s two-game home stand as the Irish now play their next four games on the road. They will spend Thanksgiving in Grand Forks, N.D., when they face the University of North Dakota on Fri.-Sat., Nov. 26-27. Friday’s game will start at 7:37 p.m. (CT) while Saturday’s game has a 7:07 p.m. (CT) starting time.
** IRISH NOTES **
* Notre Dame had two short-handed goals in the win on Saturday night and one on Friday versus the Spartans. That gives the Irish six short-handed goals on the year. Last season, the Irish had just four shorties in 38 games.
* The eight-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.
* The last time Notre Dame had two short-handed goals in a game was on Dec. 1, 2007 in a 5-0 win over Nebraska-Omaha.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 3 - Frv/#17 Michigan State (4-5-3/2-5-1-0) 1 0 1 - 2#11/#11 Notre Dame (9-3-1/7-2-1-1) 1 1 2 - 4
Scoring
First Period: ND: Ben Ryan 2 (Calle Ridderwall, Mike Voran), 6:53; MSU: Dean Chelios 1 (Daultan Leveille, Dustin Gazely), 15:49.
Penalties: MSU: 1 for 2 minutes; ND: 3 for 6 minutes.
Second Period: ND: Jeff Costello 3 (Voran, Stephen Johns), PPG, 8:29.
Penalties: MSU: 3 for 6 minutes; ND: 1 for 2 minutes.
Third Period: MSU: Torey Krug 3 (Anthony Hayes, Derek Grant), PPG, 15:35; ND: Sean Lorenz 2 (Ryan Guentzel, B. Ryan), SHG, 17:37; ND: T.J. Tynan 7 (Joe Lavin), SHG, ENG, 19:35.
Penalties: MSU: 2 for 4 minutes; ND: 2 for 10 minutes.
Shots On Goal:Michigan State 7 - 9 - 4 - 20Notre Dame 8 - 5 - 10 - 23
Goaltender Saves:MSU: Will Yanakeff (59:53) 7 - 4 - 8 - 19ND: Mike Johnson (60:00) 6 - 9 - 3 - 18
Power Plays:MSU: 1 for 7ND: 1 for 4
Attendance: 2,720 (sellout)
— ND —