MADISON, Wis. — Keeping shooters out along the boards, having defenders throwing their bodies around in front of the net, clearing out pucks, collapsing to the net, and pushing the tempo is how Michigan State wants to and knows it can play during the final two months of the regular season.
Executing that Friday night might just be the boost the Spartans need to start climbing the Big Ten standings.
Ending the season playing eight of their final 12 regular season games away from home, the Spartans got a critical boost thanks to John Lethemon’s 30 saves and the winning goal from freshman Mitchell Lewandowski in a 2-0 win over No.18 Wisconsin at the Kohl Center.
“You’ve got to stick with the process here,” Lethemon said. “We don’t want to get away too far from our game. We did some good things in the first half and we really didn’t want to change anything. We just had to stick with it here. We had a full roster going the entire here. When we’re playing at our best, we’ll be a tough team to beat.”
Michigan State (9-13-1, 3-9-1-1 Big Ten) looked nothing like a team that had entered the season giving up 38 goals during a 1-8-1 stretch. Some of those issues were due to Lethemon, who had given up 14 goals in his three starts since Jan.1. But there’s just something about playing Wisconsin that agrees with him, especially after his 38 saves secured a 2-0 victory over the Badgers on Nov. 11.
After his defense allowed few high-percentage shots around the net through the first two periods, keeping Wisconsin’s forwards boxed out, Lethemon gloved and padded a handful of quality looks in the third, including stymied a two-on-one break with 7:17 remaining.
“I think when I’m at my best I’m calm, relaxed, just kind of flow with the game, and I felt I did that tonight,” Lethemon said. “I didn’t put too much pressure on myself to go out there. It was just me versus the puck. That’s the kind of approach I took.”
As good as Lethemon was, Michigan State still needed a goal from its 50th-ranked scoring offense. Its top player managed to deliver one with 11 seconds left in the second period.
Off a shot from winger Taro Hirose, Lewandowski skated across the crease and made contact with Wisconsin goalie Kyle Hayton outside the circle, causing a pileup with UW defenseman JD Greenway. The play was reviewed at Wisconsin’s behest, but the rebound goal was Lewandowski’s fourth tally against the Badgers (10-11-3, 4-7-2-0) this season and team-leading 12th tally on the season.
“I think my mobility was impeded enough where I didn’t make the save,” Hayton (19 saves) said. “To me, that’s got to be interference.”
Junior Cody Milan added an empty-net tally with 1:06 remaining, created –- of course -– when Lethemon blocked away a shot from the circle to create an easy break.
“He’s played pretty well for us,” Michigan State coach Danton Cole said of his goalie. “It’s kind of mirrored the team coming back. Some good points after Christmas, some average things, but we all worked this week and talked about some things. Stop worrying about the score and stick with the process and get back to that. He’s earned his ice time there and done a great job there.”
The goalie in the other crease also got back to basics, good news for Wisconsin after getting beaten up in a six-game stretch against ranked teams. The Badgers scored only 15 goals against Minnesota, Notre Dame, and last weekend at Penn State while giving up at least five goals three times. Hayton was in the net for two of them, but appeared locked in throughout.
The senior kicked a shot away with his right blocker with less than three minutes to go in the first period, the Spartans’ best scoring chance of that period, and denied winger David Keefer on a rebound and made a big left pad save on center Patrick Khodorenko at the post.
It was all for naught for UW, which is under .500 for the first time all season after starting the year 6-2. The latest defeat was a performance coach Tony Granato called “flat” with his unit going 0-for-4 on the power play and blocking only 12 shots.
“At this point in the season there’s no excuse for it,” Granato said. “We’re battling for home ice advantage. … We’ve got to get back to getting better, being smarter and playing harder and certainly get more consistent performances.”
