SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The Irish hockey program fought hard Friday night but could not rally back from a first period deficit as they fell to third-ranked Michigan State 5-2.
The Irish came out buzzing in the early minutes of Friday’s contest with three senior honorees nearly finding the back of the net in the first 10 minutes. At the first media timeout, the Irish led shots on goal, 7-4.
Shortly after the media timeout, a pair of penalties were called for roughing after the whistle and a skater per side would head to the box. Michigan State capitalized during the four-on-four play to take a 1-0 lead at 11:55 of the opening period.
The Spartans extended their lead at 14:12 of the first after a shot from the point sailed wide, hitting the boards, and taking an awkward bounce back where it hit Say’s skate in the crease and trickled into the net.
Despite holding the edge in shots on goal through the first 20 minutes, the Irish headed to the locker room looking to overcome the two-goal deficit.
The Irish were called for the first penalty kill of the night after a defenseman was sent to the box for hooking just 1:40 into the second period.
After killing off the penalty early in the second stanza, the Irish reclaimed momentum and held the puck deep in their offensive end five minutes into the period before drawing a penalty and heading to their first powerplay opportunity of the night.
On the man-advantage, Hunter Strand rang a shot off the pipe as the senior looked to get the Irish on the board in the waning seconds of the powerplay.
The two teams continued to battle through the middle of the contest before the Irish drew another penalty and were sent back to the powerplay with 5:10 to play in the second. From there, it took Justin Janicke just nine seconds to convert and slice the Spartans’ lead in half. However, Michigan State got it back with 1:55 to play after a shot in front of the net tipped over the glove of Say in the Irish net.
The Irish came out strong in the third period as they looked to rally back from the 3-1 deficit but a deflection by the Spartans beat Say at 8:37 of the frame as they made it a 4-1 game.
The Irish responded moments later as Axel Kumlin net his fifth of the season to make it a 4-2 contest nearly halfway through the contest.
A late tripping call against the Spartans gave the Irish another shot on the powerplay with under five minutes to play and a two-goal deficit to overcome. Although they managed to keep the…