EAST LANSING, Mich. — After Michigan State beat New Hampshire 5-0, everyone seemed to agree on one thing: Transition was key.
“They just generated a lot of offense and we had a difficult time controlling them defensively and they made it count,” said UNH coach Dick Umile. “They put a lot of pressure on us. We didn’t play very well handling the puck.
“It was all about the transition game. We didn’t control the transition game.”
“Our transition kind of set up our offense,” added Michigan State captain Michael Ferrantino, who had the first assist on each of the first two goals. “Our backcheck was as good as it’s been all year.”
Junior Villiam Haag, who scored his first of the season on the power play late in the second period, said that for the Spartans, everything started on the back end.
“Our defense did a great job pressuring them to make them unable to shoot,” said Haag. “Very good team effort.”
Leading 2-0 after the second period, Michigan State found the net three times in the third. All told, the Spartans scored even strength, on the power play, shorthanded, and three players – including Haag and freshmen Mason Appleton and Cody Milan – netted their first goals of the season.
Coming into the contest, the Spartans were averaging 2.17 goals per game and the five-goal output was the most scored by a Michigan State team since a 6-4 win over Clarkson Dec. 14, 2014.
“For our team,” joked coach Tom Anastos, “any time you see the puck go in the net, it gives you a booster shot.”
Appleton’s game-winning goal came at 6:12 in the first from a scramble in front of New Hampshire goaltender Danny Tirone. Haag’s one-timer on the power play at 16:11 in the second was the end result of a beautiful setup from behind the net by Ferrantino.
J.T. Stenglein scored his fourth of the season at 3:35 in the third to make it 3-0, forcing his way past a UNH defender to tuck the puck behind Tirone near the right post. He was assisted by Joe Cox, who scored unassisted and shorthanded on a breakaway at 6:49.
“That’s a good team that’s had a lot of offensive success early, so I think on both sides of the puck we did some good things,” Anastos said. “It’s nice to see the power play finally get a goal.
“If you bring it down to one simple thing, I thought we had way more chemistry throughout our lineup. You could see that our lines had actually played together a little bit.”
Nearly lost in Michigan State’s offensive performance was senior Jake Hildebrand’s second consecutive shutout, his second of the season and the 13th of his career. Hildebrand made 25 saves as the Spartans outshot the Wildcats 42-25.
