Michigan State hockey: 3 things to watch as the Spartans host Minnesota

The Michigan State hockey team returns to Big Ten action for the first time in nearly a month when it hosts No. 9 Minnesota for two games this weekend.

MSU (11-8-1, 5-5 Big Ten) is coming off the Great Lakes Invitational, where the Spartans fell to No. 6 Western Michigan 3-1 before bouncing back with a 3-2 overtime victory over No. 20 Michigan Tech.

Minnesota (10-8, 6-4 Big Ten) played two exhibition games this past Sunday and Monday against St. Thomas and the US National Team Development Program. The Golden Gophers' last regular-season action, however, came more than a month ago when they split with Michigan Dec. 3-4.

Minnesota has played one of the toughest schedules in the country, splitting with current No. 4-ranked St. Cloud State and No. 5-ranked North Dakota and being swept by No. 8 Minnesota Duluth during the season's first two months.

Here are three things to watch for as MSU hosts Minnesota on Friday and Saturday at Munn Ice Arena.

First look at the Gophers

Minnesota is the last Big Ten team for the Spartans to face this season, and the Gophers are once again toward the top of the Big Ten, in second place, and in the top 10 of the USCHO hockey poll.

MSU, which sits fifth in the Big Ten, gave the Gophers a major scare the last time these two met in the 2021 Big Ten tournament, when the 7-seeded Spartans led Minnesota 1-0 for a majority of the game until the Gophers tied it late and eventually won in sudden-death overtime.

Minnesota returned its entire defensive unit that is one of the best in the nation, as well as the reigning Big Ten goaltender of the year in Jack Lafontaine. The Gophers lost some key pieces from last season offensively, but still have plenty of firepower up front.

“They're a deep team, they play very fast and the strength of their team is defense," MSU coach Danton Cole said. "Their back end and goaltending is really similar (to last year). It's outstanding. Up front, they had a lot of seniors last year, but they still have a lot of guys back. They're not hurting for depth and they're not quite as old up front, but they still seem to be pretty darn dangerous.

"It’ll be up to us to deal with them offensively, coming to join the rush. And the bigger challenge is getting through their line of defense. We'll have to be sharp in both areas."

Minnesota should be at full strength as it gets defensemen Brock Faber and Ryan Johnson back after their time at the World Junior tournament, which was eventually canceled due to COVID-19.

The Gophers are led offensively by a pair of forwards with 18 points each in Ben Meyers (five goals, 13 assists) and Blake McLaughlin (four goals, 14 assists).

Forward Bryce Brodzinski leads the Gophers with nine goals, while captain Sammy Walker has scored seven. Freshman Mason Knies has had a solid first year with seven goals and nine assists.

Still searching for consistency

Cole has preached this season the need for MSU to put together a full and consistent 60 minutes of hockey if the Spartans want to find their way toward the top of the Big Ten standings and into the NCAA tournament picture.

MSU's third periods have been great. The Spartans hold a +6 goal advantage in the final frame and have scored nine of their 11 game-winners in the third period – seven coming in the final seven minutes or in overtime.

MSU's first periods have been even – 15 goals for, 15 goals against.

It's the second period that has been an issue as opponents have outscored MSU 19-10 in the middle 20 minutes.

"I think it's just staying focused and in the game," MSU defenseman Cole Krygier said. "We can come out and have really good starts to the night and then in the second period, I think we have a mental lapse. Guys start to get comfortable and out of that rhythm. Playing a consistent 60 minutes is going to be huge in the second half and if we want to beat good teams, we have to be solid in those second periods."

Freshmen impressing

All three MSU freshmen played well during last week's GLI – none more than defenseman David Gucciardi, who had three of MSU's four goals in the two games and was named the Big Ten First Star of the Week.

Forward Jesse Tucker, who is second on the team with 10 assists behind Mitch Lewandowski's 11, assisted on three of Gucciardi's four goals, including the primary assist on Gucciardi's overtime winner over Tech.

Although not on the stat sheet, forward Tanner Kelly was tasked, alongside linemates Nico Muller and Jagger Joshua, to be the defensive matchup against two of the highest scoring lines in the NCAA. Those two lines, one for WMU and one for Tech, failed to score a goal in 5-on-5 action.

Both games of the series – at 6:30 p.m. Friday and 7:30 p.m. Saturday – will be televised on the Big Ten Network.

Contact Nathaniel Bott at nbott@lsj.com and follow him on Twitter @Nathaniel_Bott

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Michigan State hockey: 3 things to watch as Spartans host Minnesota