By Alyssa Girardi –
EAST LANSING — Coming into Saturday’s game, both MSU and Penn State were looking for a Big Ten milestone for their respective programs.
The Nittany Lions were searching for their first conference win, and the Spartans (8-10-3, 2-2-2-2 B1G) were looking for their first conference sweep after winning 3-0 Friday. Three periods later, the Green and White were the ones who left with their heads high, as MSU took down Penn State, 3-2.
“We want to get into the mix,” head coach Tom Anastos said. “We’ve seen Minnesota, we’ve seen Michigan once. We know Wisconsin’s got a good team. Even though we haven’t played everybody — we haven’t played Wisconsin — we’ve kinda seen everybody. We want to stay in the mix, and these were important points to leave the weekend with.”
Less than a minute and a half into the opening period, sophomore forward Michael Ferrantino (Plymouth) gave MSU the early lead. Junior Matt Berry (Canton) put the puck out front from behind the net, and Ferrantino buried it with a backhander while wrestling off a Penn State defenseman.
The assist earned Berry his seventh point in six games (five goals, two assists).
The Spartans almost maintained the lead for the remainder of the first period, but Penn State’s Taylor Holmstrom scored with 28 seconds remaining. He redirected a shot by Luke Juha from the right faceoff circle.
Holmstrom’s tally broke nearly four scoreless periods for the Nittany Lions after the Spartans shut them out, 3-0, Friday night.
Junior forward Tanner Sorenson found his first goal of the season seven minutes into the second period to put MSU on top once again. Senior forward and captain Greg Wolfe (Canton) fed a pass from behind goaltender Eamon McAdam’s net to Sorenson at McAdam’s right side.
A quick wrister slipped through and closed out scoring for the period.
The game was Sorenson’s third in a row and seventh this season after being in and out of the lineup for the past few months.
“It’s kinda been a tough year, obviously,” Sorenson said. “But the rust is gone, so it’s nice to get back into a regular loop and get a game day ritual. I really don’t even know what I do on game day anymore so it was kinda nice getting into a routine.”
Penn State (4-14-1, 0-6-0-0 B1G) started the final period on a power play after freshman forward Joe Cox was sent off for interference in the final minute of the second period.
Early in the third, Eric Scheid maintained possession to the left of sophomore Jake Hildebrand before eventually finding an opening at the far post for the power-play marker.
Two and a half minutes later, MSU took over the scoreboard again with senior forward Lee Reimer’s second goal in as many games. Junior defenseman RJ Boyd sent the puck toward the net from the far has marks of the left circle, and Reimer connected with the shot, redirecting it into the empty net.
In Friday’s win, Reimer and senior linemates Wolfe and Dean Chelios (Bloomfield Hills) each scored a goal and collected two assists.
“We’re looking for that depth and so those guys have played together for a while now and had success (Friday),” Anastos said. “For those guys, they set the tone with their work habits and they’re playing in all types of situations. Your seniors need to be contributors and some of your best players, and they were that this weekend.”
With 5:23 to play, Penn State defenseman Mark Yanis (Grosse Pointe Woods) bulldozed freshman forward Villiam Haag into the dasher boards head-first. Haag was down for a few minutes before eventually being helped off the ice.
Yanis received a 5-minute major for hitting from behind and a game misconduct.
Anastos said he didn’t have a report on Haag immediately following the game, but he said he was back on the bench before the end of the game.
The Spartans take the ice at 7 p.m. Thursday at Joe Louis Arena against Michigan before returning to East Lansing the following night for a 6:30 puck drop against the Wolverines.