Michigan hockey sweeps MSU in stunning fashion, wins 'Duel in the D'
Michigan was up 3-2 with about 9 minutes to go and should have been on a 5-minute power play that could have all but iced a win over Michigan State. Instead, a review for a hit to the head (not called) went against them, MSU scored with under five minutes remaining to tie the game at 3, and the Wolverines had to go to overtime Saturday night in Detroit.
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There, they picked up a penalty that gave the Spartans a 4-on-3 advantage for 2 minutes, and it looked bleak.
Instead, Michigan killed off the penalty, and with .6 seconds left got a rebound goal from Luke Hughes to stun MSU and win the ‘Duel in the D’ at Little Caesar’s Arena in Detroit and give U-M its third straight win over the Spartans, 4-3.
Michigan won Friday night’s contest in East Lansing, 4-2. U-M has now won 6 straight ‘Iron D’ trophies at LCA.
“I think it was two teams battling and a rivalry, and they’re a good team. We think we are, too,” Michigan head coach Brandon Naurato said. “It was just momentum shifts. They made a push, then we pushed back. We just tried to ride the wave and it took until one second left to finish it out.
“It was crazy. It still doesn’t feel real that [Hughes] scored in the end, but good for the guys and how hard they battled.”
Michigan jumped out to a 1-0 lead before the Spartans grabbed a short-lived, 2-1 edge with two straight goals. U-M answered right back when Dylan Duke scored on a deflection, and the Wolverines took the lead a minute later when forward Frank Nazar scored on a breakaway.
Michigan got a ton of pressure on a third period power play, but failed to score. Then came the controversy. Mackie Samoskevich took an obvious shot to the head that, upon review, appeared to be a 5-minute major. Instead, officials determined there was no major penalty and Michigan was charged a timeout after asking for the review.
Michigan State tied it to set up the crazy finish.
The Wolverines beat the Spartans for the 9th time in 10 tries and did it without star Adam Fantilli, suspended for a game for a fight the previous night, and Rutger McGroarty, Jacob Truscott and Seamus Casey due to injury.
Michigan travels to Ohio State next weekend alone in second place in the Big Ten. They’ve won 7 straight.
