EAST LANSING — Senior netminder Shawn Hunwick put on a show in front of the net for the duration of the first period in No. 7 Michigan’s first conference rematch with CCHA rival Michigan State on Friday.
But the Hunwick show quickly turned into the Torey Krug show, as the Spartan defenseman flashed his shot and earned a hat trick on the night.
It looked as if the Wolverines would drop their first game to Michigan State this season after trailing 3-2 late in the third period, but with 12.5 seconds remaining in regulation, junior forward David Wohlberg scored the equalizing goal to force overtime.
But the Wolverines fell to their CCHA foes, 4-3 in overtime, tying the season series at one.
The last time the two squads met was The Big Chill at the Big House, where the Wolverines shutout the Spartans 5-0. But on Friday, Spartan sophomore Torey Krug made sure that Michigan State wasn’t about to drop two in a row to Michigan.
For the first 20 minutes of play, the Spartans found a way to keep pressure and the puck in Michigan’s zone — but Hunwick found a way to save each shot. The Wolverines killed off two Michigan State power play’s in the first period but headed to the intermission trailing in shots, 13-8.
Michigan State (4-8-1-0 CCHA, 8-10-3 overall) knocked on the door in the first period and found the net first in the second. Krug scored his sixth goal of the season for the Spartans just over five minutes into the second period.
But the Wolverines (9-4-1-0 CCHA, 12-6-4 overall) rebounded with a power play goal of their own in the second period to tie the game up at one. Senior forward Carl Hagelin buried his 10th goal of the season on a pass from senior defensemen Chad Langlais to give Michigan the equalizer.
Both teams came out flying in the third, but penalties to the Wolverines for roughing gave the Spartans a 5-on-3 advantage. Twelve seconds into the two man-advantage, Krug banged home his second goal of the night to put Michigan State up 2-1 with 12 minutes left in the third period.
Michigan couldn’t manage to stay out of the box on Friday, making their penalty kill work overtime all night.
Krug appeared to put the nail in the Wolverines’ coffin when he lit the lamp for the third time in the game to put the Spartans up 3-1 with only five minutes remaining in the third period. Friday marked the first time that Michigan gave up a hat trick since 2007, when T.J. Oshie scored three for North Dakota.
Freshman forward Luke Moffatt scored his third goal of the season with just under three minutes left in the third period to cut the Spartan lead to one before Wohlberg tied the game up with 12 seconds remaining in the third period.
But the Wolverines couldn’t hold on and the Spartans put the game away for good, as Michigan State scored the game-winner two minutes into overtime.