EAST LANSING, Mich. — With less than 10 minutes to play in the Big Ten championship game at Munn Ice Arena, Michigan State watched a two-goal lead evaporate.
Two periods later, the Spartans became the first team in Big Ten conference history to secure consecutive playoff championships coupled with back-to-back regular-season titles.
Isaac Howard capped an impressive performance with the game-winning goal at 15:09 of double overtime, giving Michigan State a 4-3 win over Ohio State. Howard had a power-play goal in the first period and assisted on the Spartans’ two other goals as well, earning him MVP honors for the game.
“Ike’s fingerprints were all over this game,” said Michigan State coach Adam Nightingale. “I have a hard time believing there’s a better player in the country. He’s doing it on both sides of the puck. We used him on the kill but to score that goal [on a] heck of a play by Charlie Stramel to find him.
“It was great to see guys be rewarded, to try to do something that’s never been done … super proud of the guys.”
The Spartans led 2-0 early in the game on power-play goals by Karsen Dorwart and Howard, who assisted on each other’s tallies. Joe Dunlap got one back for the Buckeyes late in the first to make it 2-1 after one.
After a scoreless second period, the Spartans took a 3-1 lead just 42 seconds into the third period when Tanner Kelly tipped in a feed from Howard on the breakaway and for more than 10 minutes, it looked as though the game would that way.
But at 12:46, Damien Carfagna banked in a goal off of Trey Augustine’s skate to pull the Buckeyes to within one, and at 17:39, Gunnarwolfe Fontaine picked up Riley Thompson’s rebound to the game 3-3.
“When your backs are against the wall, you have no choice,” said Ohio State coach Steve Rohlik. “Our guys, we’re just going to keep going forward. To get that second one was huge and then we just felt it. We wished that period was a little longer. We were kind of in the roll there.”
The Buckeyes outshot the Spartans 11-9 in the first overtime, but the second OT belonged to Michigan State from nearly the get-go. The Spartans wore down the Buckeyes in the second OT, outshooting Ohio State 12-4. Even when the Buckeyes were able to clear the puck out of their own zone, they couldn’t sustain any offense and by the time Howard scored, the game winner felt like an inevitability.
On that goal, Stramel swept the puck from behind the Ohio State net and set up Howard in the slot. Once the puck was on his tape, the Big Ten player of the year and Hobey Baker finalist made no mistake.
“I remember kind of getting in the slot and ‘Strams’ was wheeling up and he made a great play to me,” Howard said. “I just went backhand, forehand, through the goalie’s armpit and then celebrated.”
Nightingale said that he was happy with the way his team “just stayed with it” when the Buckeyes evened the score and had their chances in overtime.
“There was no panic,” said Nightingale. “A lot of time that happens, the wheels can fall off. You’ve just got to believe in what we do and how we need to play to be a good hockey team.”
Both Ohio State (24-13-2) and Michigan State (26-6-4) will move onto NCAA tournament play, with the Spartans earning a No. 1 seed in regional action, wherever they’re sent. The Buckeyes and Spartans may find themselves placed in Toledo next weekend.
