The No. 1-ranked Michigan State Spartans were upset by the Ohio State Buckeyes, 5-1, at Munn Ice Arena in East Lansing on Friday.
Freshman forward Anthony Romani scored the only goal and junior Trey Augustine (South Lyon) made 34 saves for the Spartans (24-7-0, 15-6 in Big Ten).
“A tough game for us for sure,” Michigan State coach Adam Nightingale said. “Give credit to Ohio State, they were the better hockey team. They beat us in all facets there tonight, for sure. We have to be sharper, and at the end of the day that is my responsibility to make sure the guys are ready to go, and they weren’t ready to go.”
Michigan State needs five more points in the Big Ten standings in the final three games of the regular season to clinch the outright conference championship.
Ohio State improves to 12-18-1 (8-13, Big Ten) ahead of Saturday’s rematch at 8 p.m.
Griffins clinch playoff berth
The Grand Rapids Griffins clinched a playoff berth despite a 3-2 loss to the Iowa Wild on Friday at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids.
Combined with the Rockford IceHogs losing to the Hershey Bears, the Griffins are officially in the playoffs with the earliest clinching date in franchise history (March 6).
It’s also the earliest for an AHL team since 1992-93, when the Binghamton Rangers clinched on Feb. 24 with 24 games remaining.
Grand Rapids’ league-best record is 40-8-3-1 with 84 points through 52 contests.
Amadeus Lombardi had two assists to extend his point streak to four, Michael Brandsegg-Nygard and Shai Buium each scored a goal and Michal Postava made 22 saves.
Michigan 4, Minnesota 2
No. 2 Michigan doubled Minnesota, 4-2, at Yost Ice Arena in Ann Arbor on Friday.
T.J. Hughes had a goal and an assist in his 150th career game, Asher Barnett scored the game-winning goal, Malcolm Spence had a goal and two assists and Jack Ivankovic made 25 saves for the Wolverines (26-7-1, 17-6-1 Big Ten).
With 26 wins, Michigan finishes the regular season with its most victories since the 2007-08 group headed into the postseason with 27 wins.
The Wolverines will face Simon Fraser in an exhibition contest on Thursday at Yost at 7 p.m.
Sabres 3, Panthers 2
Beck Malenstyn scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third period in a 3-2 win for the Buffalo Sabres against the host Florida Panthers on Friday.
Malenstyn gave Buffalo a 2-1 lead at 11:38 of the final period. With Mattias Samuelsson positioned at the top of the crease, Malenstyn took a slap shot that beat Daniil Tarasov’s glove.
Florida challenged the play for goaltender interference, with Samuelsson’s stick close to Tarasov’s glove, but the call stood after review.
Peyton Krebs scored an empty-net goal at 18:43 to make it 3-1, before the rebound of a Sam Bennett shot was knocked in by Rasmus Dahlin off his own goaltender to make the final 3-2.
Alex Tuch scored a goal and added an assist, while Alex Lyon stopped 27 shots for the Sabres, who have won two straight games since the NHL’s Olympic break and are 8-2-1 in their last 11 games.
Bennett also had an assist, and Matthew Tkachuk scored for the Panthers, who have lost six of eight. Tarasov made 36 saves.
Local schedules
Friday
Iowa 3, Grand Rapids 2
Michigan 4, Minnesota 2
Ohio State 5, Michigan State 1
North Dakota 5, Western Michigan 3
Bowling Green 1, Michigan Tech 0
Minnesota State 3, Northern Michigan 2 (SO)
Cedar Rapids 2, NTDP U17 1
Saturday
Red Wings at Carolina, 7
Iowa at Grand Rapids, 7
Ohio State at Michigan State, 8
North Dakota at Western Michigan, 6
Bowling Green at Michigan Tech, 6
Northern Michigan at Minnesota State, 7
Cedar Rapids at NTDP U17, 7
Sunday
Cedar Rapids at NTDP U17, 4
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Hockey roundup: Buckeyes upset No. 1 Spartans; Griffins clinch playoff berth
Reporting by Detroit News staff and wires / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
