Michigan State hockey rallies vs. Michigan, 5-1, for first win streak in series since '19

The tide may have turned in the seemingly eternal battle between the Michigan and Michigan State hockey teams, as the Spartans beat the Wolverines, 5-1, on Friday night at Yost Ice Arena in Ann Arbor.

Ahead of the two teams’ rematch Saturday night at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, two Detroit Red Wings prospects played big roles, as goalie Trey Augustine (2023 second-round pick) stopped 29 of 30 shots to finish as the game's first star, and center Red Savage (2021 fourth-round pick) scored in the third period to give the Spartans a 4-1 lead.

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It’s the Spartans’ second straight victory in the series, following a 7-5 win Jan. 20 in Ann Arbor, and the first win streak in the series for MSU since sweeping the weekend series on Nov. 14-16, 2019. The Spartans can make it three in a row with a victory at LCA (8:30 p.m., Big Ten Network). MSU hasn’t beaten U-M three straight times in hockey since the 2009-10 season (Nov. 13-14, 2009 and Jan. 29, 2010).

Midway through Friday’s game, an MSU win streak looked improbable, as U-M forward Gavin Brindley broke a scoreless tie with 9:20 remaining in the second, following a first period in which the Wolverines had dominated the Spartans, outshooting them 11-6. But Augustine, a freshman who starred at the World Juniors last month, kept MSU in it though the first, and MSU then outshot U-M 8-3 in the second period, just before Brindley’s goal. That run of play resulted in a tying goal from MSU's Tanner Kelly just 35 seconds later.

The Spartans turned it on in the third period, outshooting the Wolverines, 13-8. MSU took the lead with a pair of goals 3:27 apart a third of the way through the period, from Daniel Russell and Maxim Štrbák, both assisted by Isaac Howard (another star from the World Juniors) and Karsen Dorwart (the night's second star). About 9 minutes after Štrbák's goal, Savage chipped in an empty-netter, followed 25 seconds later by Jeremy Davidson’s empty-net tally to finish the scoring.

Michigan goalie Jake Barczewski was nearly Augustine's equal, stopping 25 of the 28 shots he faced.

After a chippy start to the season series on Jan. 19, in which nearly 170 penalty minutes were handed out in a 7-1 U-M victory, the teams were much better behaved in the Jan. 20 rematch and that carried over to Friday’s game: Just two penalties, for a total of 4 minutes, were assessed — a slashing call on MSU’s Reed Lebster a minute after the first goal, and a holding call on U-M defenseman Seamus Casey with 7:12 remaining in the game.

Contact Ryan Ford atrford@freepress.com. Follow him on X (which used to be Twitter, y’know?)@theford.