COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State rode a hat trick by Ryan Dzingel and three unanswered third-period goals to a 5-3 victory over Michigan State Friday night.
Dzingel, who extended his scoring streak to 20 points in the last 10 games, had four points on the night, while linemate Nick Oddo had three.
Ohio State improved to 11-6-0 overall, 1-2-0-0 in Big Ten play. Michigan State is now 6-10-2 on the year and 0-2-1-1 in the Big Ten.
Ohio State lit the lamp first after pair of Spartan penalties gave the Buckeyes a 5-on-3 advantage.
Alex Szczechura beat Michigan State netminder Jake Hildebrand down low just 29 seconds into the power play to give the Buckeyes a 1-0 lead at 4:45 of the first frame.
Matt Berry put the Spartans on the board with a pair of goals in the second stanza. The first – a cross-crease dish that slid past Matt Tomkins’ glove side – came at 6:38. At 15:00, Berry wristed another shot from the left circle to stymie Tomkins on the power play.
Ohio State evened the action just 1:54 later as Dzingel one-timed a pass from Oddo to capitalize on a 3-on-2 rush and knot the game at two.
Michigan State seemed to tilt the ice, reclaiming the lead in the critical final moments of the middle period with just 37 seconds to play. Berry wrapped the puck around from behind the net, where Joe Cox found it in the fray and fired it past Tomkins put the Spartans back on top 3-2.
But Ohio State was far from out of it.
The Buckeyes came out firing on all cylinders and took control of the score sheet following the second intermission.
“Everybody’s been in those games,” Ohio State coach Steve Rohlik said. “Everybody’s made mistakes – we’ve given up goals, we’ve been down in games. Everybody in that room’s been there and we could go one of two directions, and my challenge to guys is to go out there and go the right direction and put the mistakes behind you. The average player will let it bug you forever. The great players put it behind them and go out and play great and our team did that.”
Oddo lit the fuse with a goal just 17 seconds into the final period to tie the game 3-3, assisted by linemates Nick Schilkey and Dzingel.
“It was a big momentum shifter going into the third period,” Oddo said. “‘Schilks’ made a great play just going to the net hard and I was just lucky to pick up the rebound and put it in.”
Dzingel gave Ohio State the lead with a top-shelfer from close range just 1:13 later.
Then with under four minutes left to play, the Ottawa draft pick did it again, putting the final nail in the coffin with a slapshot power-play goal from the point.
“We beat a very good Michigan State team – give them credit,” Rholik said. “Second period was kind of back and forth and we were a little bit on our heels and they score the one late, you know, but these guys answered the bell.”
Michigan State coach Tom Anastos emphasized defense as a key to turning the tides in Saturday’s game.
“Offense is easier to play – it’s more fun,” Anastos said. “Defense is tough, it’s grunt, and it takes a real commitment and a real blue-collar mentality and at times, we were pretty good, but too much of the time we weren’t, and we have to be better. You have to be tough to play against all over the ice, you have to make scoring goals very difficult. You have to make your opposition pay a price to score a goal and I thought we gave up too many easy goals tonight.”
