SOUTH BEND, Ind. — With the No.1 seed wrapped up in the upcoming Big Ten Conference Tournament, third-ranked Notre Dame was looking to send its senior class out in grand style Saturday night.
That included the postgame lowering of the banner for the school’s first-ever regular season Big Ten Conference championship, but a very determined and scrappy Michigan State (12-21-2, 6-16-2-1 Big Ten) spoiled the festivities with a 4-3 win in front of 5,174 at The Compton Family Ice Arena.
“It was gutsy,” Spartans coach Danton Cole said. “We were down 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2, and the guys kept going. The guys did a nice job on the bench. We didn’t let things get away from us. They’re a resilient bunch, and they believe they can win hockey games, lately.”
Jerad Rosburg’s first goal of the season 8:50 into the third period off an assist from Patrick Khodorenko was the game-winner from a player who’s very familiar with the Notre Dame campus.
“I was trying to get the puck in net the whole night, and it was good to see one finally go in at the end,” Rosburg said. “I used to live in South Bend, and I used to skate at Notre Dame when I was a kid. It’s kind of a cool experience to be back here and skating again.”
Coach Jeff Jackson’s Fighting Irish (23-9-2, 17-6-1-1 Big Ten) have two weeks off before hosting a one-game semifinal in the Big Ten Tournament on March 10.
“I’ve got to give Michigan State their due,” Jackson said. “I thought that they were better. Like I have said all season long, it is extremely hard to beat the same team four times in a row. (Tonight) is what I kind of expected from Michigan State. That’s the team that I saw on tape.”
Colin Theisen got the Fighting Irish on the board at 12:35 when he scored his sixth goal off a Jake Evans assist. Michigan State tied it up on Taro Hirose’s 12th goal of the season off a Carson Gatt assist at 17:31.
Evans’ power-play goal off assists from Johdsan Gross and Cam Morrison at 2:44 gave Notre Dame a 2-1 lead, but Mitch Lewandowski scored off a Rosburg assist to tie it up.
Michigan State was the aggressor throughout with a 36-26 edge in shots on goal, including an 18-8 advantage in the second period.
“Their first line is awfully good,” Jackson said. “One of the best lines in all of college hockey. I thought we were good in the first period. And I thought we fell off in the second. I can’t tell you why, and I have no idea as to why it happened.”
Debbis Gilbert’s fourth goal of the season at 42 seconds of the third gave the Fighting Irish a 3-2 lead before Lewandowski’s second goal of the game and 19th of the season at 3:20 tied it up.
“A team like that, they build off momentum.” Lewandowski said. “When they get up, you’ve got to take them down as soon as you can, and we did that.”
It remained tied until Rosburtg’s game-winner.
“They scored that faceoff goal, and you can’t lose a draw clean like that and they capitalized on that,” Jackson said.
Notre Dame pulled goalie Cale Morris with 1:26 left for a sixth attacker. As the final seconds ticked down, the Fighting Irish peppered goalie John Lethemon with numerous shots, but could not find the back of the net.
“He made some big saves in the third,” Cole said. “I thought he made saves, but he was scrambling back there. We kind of addressed this as a playoff game and said we want to be back here two weeks from (Saturday).”
The Spartans are the seventh seed in the tournament and will travel to Columbus next week to take on second seed Ohio State in a best-of-three series beginning Friday.
“Ohio State is a heck of a team,” Cole said. “It’s going to be a tough series.”
Lethermon finished with 23 saves, while Morris had 32.
