Badgers conquer Spartans 5-2
De St. Phalle nets two goals in Badgers win
MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin men’s hockey team took down the Michigan State Spartans, 5-2, at the Kohl Center on Friday.
A three-goal first period and third-period push helped lift the Badgers (7-13-3, 4-8-0 1-1-0 Big Ten) over the Spartans (11-10-1, 5-7-0 1-0-0 Big Ten).
Freshman forward Liam Malmquist netted a rather unconventional first career goal in the first period against the Spartans to give the Badgers an early 1-0 lead. Jack Gorniak led an offensive zone rush and completed a cross-ice pass to Brock Caufield who took a shot on net. Malmquist collected the rebound behind the goal line and sent the puck in front of the crease, where it banked off two Spartans’ skates and into the net.
Michigan State responded at 10:38 in the first period when Dennis Cesana picked the far corner on a three-on-two rush into the Badgers’ zone, assisted by Kyle Haskins.
Mathieu De St. Phalle restored the Badgers’ lead a couple minutes later when he slipped the puck past MSU’s Drew DeRidder from the edge of the crease. Jesper Peltonen cycled the puck up the boards to Tarek Baker who directed a shot on net for De St. Phalle.
The Badgers then took a 3-1 lead when Corson Ceulemans netted his fourth goal of the season at the seven-minute mark of the first period. Dominick Mersch passed to Tyler Inamoto on the point who slid the puck across the blue line to Ceuelemans. The freshman defender maneuvered through two Spartans before firing a shot from the dot.
Erik Middendorf put the Spartans within one from the high slot just 39 seconds into the second period off a pass from Jeremey Davidson and Jesse Tucker.
After successfully killing off a critical Spartan power play, the Badgers were eager for their turn on the man-advantage.
Max Johnson added to Wisconsin’s tally on the power play at 9:38 in the third period when he found a slim shooting lane on a Carson Bantle-screened DeRidder. Gorniak provided Daniel Laatsch with the puck on the point where he slid a pass across to Johnson for the Badgers fourth goal of the game.
One goal just wasn’t enough for De St. Phalle tonight. The sophomore scored on the power-play with 1:31 on the clock in the third period to win it for the Badgers 5-2. Ceulemans completed a cross to Roman Ahcan in the Spartans’ zone, who then found De St. Phalle for a quick release in the slot.
Goaltender Jared Moe made 28 stops in net to help Wisconsin to their first win over MSU this season.
Notes to know:
• Tyler Inamoto notched his first point of the season with an assist on Ceulemans’ goal
• Mathieu De St. Phalle now leads the Badgers with six goals
• Jesper Peltonen has points in three-straight games and four points in his last five games
• The Badgers three-goal first period is their best opening period performance of the season
• Max Johnson tallied his 25th career power-play goal which ties him for second in the NCAA
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