Michigan completes weekend sweep of MSU with 6-3 win Saturday night

 

By @MichaelCaples –

ANN ARBOR – It took a full 60 minutes this time around, but once again, the Wolverines took care of their main rival.

Michigan followed up their 9-2 rout of Michigan State on Friday with a 6-3 victory Saturday at Yost Ice Arena, completing a weekend home-and-home sweep.

Dexter Dancs, Cooper Marody, Max Shuart, Zach Werenski, Tyler Motte and Kyle Connor scored for the Wolverines, while Steve Racine made 24 saves for back-to-back wins against Michigan State.

“I challenged our team last night,” said  Michigan coach Red Berenson. “’Do we know how to finish off a weekend?  We haven’t proven it yet.’ So that was part of the challenge.
“Give Michigan State credit. They came out and they played hard and they played well and they got the first goal. And I thought our first goal was important because had they got two, it could have been a different outcome.”

Photos by Andrew Knapik/MiHockey

The win improves Michigan to 14-3-3 on the season, and 4-1-1-1 in Big Ten play.

Dylan Pavelek, Villiam Haag and Michael Ferrantino scored for Michigan State, while Jake Hildebrand made 35 saves in the contest.

“I thought we got a few more shots from the point through, and that’s got to be critical to creating some offense and creating some danger,” said MSU coach Tom Anastos. “Deflections, second and third chances, screen shots – we’ve got to get better with that. It starts with compete. I thought we competed hard tonight. I thought there was some real physicality out there, at times. I thought up and down our roster, we had a good effort.”

Michigan State falls to 5-15-2 on the year, and 1-5-0-0 in Big Ten play.

The Wolverines scored a combined 15 goals in the weekend sweep against their main rivals.

MSU’s Pavelek scored his first NCAA goal to open the scoring, however, finishing off a breakaway at the 4:27 mark of the opening period.

It took the Wolverines 14 minutes to respond. Shuart forced a turnover behind the Michigan State goal, and Dancs buried his pass from just outside the goal crease to tie the game.

The second period featured six goals between the two in-state rivals – four in a row for the Wolverines, and the final two for the Spartans.

Marody scored the first of the bunch, beating Hildebrand from the left face-off circle.

Less than a minute later, Shuart scored a goal of his own, tipping a point shot by Michael Downing to make the game 3-1.

At the 8:09 mark of the middle frame, Werenski increased the Wolverines’ lead while on the power play, sending a shot through traffic for his sixth goal of the year.

Motte finished the Michigan scoring spree at the 12:15 mark, driving to the Michigan State goal and sending a shot past Hildebrand as he cut across the goal.

Michigan State responded with two goals of their own to close out the second period. First, it was Villiam Haag beating Racine with a wrist shot from the right face-off circle.

With less than a minute to go in the middle period, Ferrantino fired a shot past Racine to capitalize on a five-on-three power-play opportunity for the Spartans.

Connor added the only goal of the third period, scoring an empty-netter to seal the deal for Michigan in the closing moments.