Michigan State can clinch the Big Ten regular-season championship this week.
The Spartans (24-7-1, 15-6-1 in Big Ten) trail rival Michigan by two points in the standings, but have two games in hand to surpass the Wolverines for the title.
MSU travels to Minnesota to wrap up the regular season on Thursday and Friday, while Michigan is done and on a bye.
“As for this weekend, we’re just looking at Thursday’s game and worried about that,” Michigan State defenseman Colin Ralph said. “After that, we’ll look at the next game. It’s just a one game at a time thing.
“We’re excited about the opportunity to win the regular season but we’ve got to take care of tomorrow’s practice and then the first game and then the second game.”
Golden Knights lose third straight
Tage Thompson scored his 33rd goal of the season and Alex Lyon made 27 saves as the Buffalo Sabres jumped out to a 3-0 lead and then held on for their fourth straight victory, 3-2, over the visiting Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday night.
Thompson, honored before the game along with Jack Eichel and Noah Hanifin of the Golden Knights for winning a gold medal with the U.S. Olympic team, scored what proved to be the game-winner midway through the second period. Owen Power (Michigan) and Jason Zucker also scored goals for Buffalo, which improved to a league- best 25-5-2 since Dec. 9.
Ivan Barbashev and Pavel Dorofeyev scored goals, and Akira Schmid finished with 25 saves for Vegas, which dropped its third straight game.
The Golden Knights will face the Red Wings on Wednesday at Little Caesars Arena at 7 p.m.
Vegas continued a pattern of poor starts, falling behind 3-0 in the first 25 minutes.
Zucker opened the scoring at the 4:02 mark of the opening period when he knocked in a rebound off the skate of Eichel.
Power extended the lead 46 seconds into the second period with a floater past a screened Schmid. Thompson made it 3-0, extending his point streak to eight games in the process, when he ripped a wrist shot from the right circle past Schmid’s blocker side.
The Golden Knights got back into the game with two goals in a 97-second span later in the second period. Barbashev got the first, tucking in a wraparound rebound inside the left post that caromed in off Schmid’s right pad. Dorofeyev followed with his team-best 29th goal, intercepting a pass at the Buffalo blue line and then beating Lyon five-hole on a breakaway.
Ryan McLeod had a chance to seal the win for the Sabres with 2:49 to go when he broke in free down the slot, but his wrist shot clanged off the crossbar.
Vegas pulled Schmid for an extra attacker with 1:30 remaining, and the Golden Knights, who lead the league with nine comeback wins, nearly tied it with 20 seconds left, but Braeden Bowman’s spinning wrist shot from the top of the slot hit the crossbar.
Oilers win on Bouchard’s OT goal
Evan Bouchard helped get the Edmonton Oilers back on track with the overtime winner in Tuesday’s 5-4 win over the visiting Ottawa Senators on Tuesday.
Leon Draisaitl contributed on all five scores (two goals, three assists) for the Oilers, who earned just their second win over their past seven outings (2-5-0). They did it resilient fashion, rallying from three deficits to take their first lead with the overtime winner.
Drake Batherson scored twice, and Dylan Cozens and Michael Amadio also tallied for the Senators, with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman scoring the Oilers’ other two goals.
Hyman forced the extra frame with 1:25 remaining in regulation as he tipped in a pass from Draisaitl.
Bouchard took a pass from Connor McDavid before hammering his slap shot past Linus Ullmark from the game-winning power-play tally with 3:10 left in overtime.
Ullmark finished with 32 saves, while Edmonton’s Connor Ingram made 17.
Cozens broke the ice just over three minutes into the game as he sent a perfectly-placed wrist shot over the glove of Ingram for his third goal over the past two contests.
Draisaitl didn’t take long to find an equalizer as he took advantage of an out-of-position Ullmark and sent his shot into the unguarded cage 5:03 into the opening period.
Batherson kept the goal-scoring parade going just over a minute later as he took a pass across from Brady Tkachuk and wired his shot into the top corner for the power-play marker.
The early action continued as Vasily Podkolzin dropped the gloves with Ridly Greig eight minutes into the first period.
Draisaitl caught another break as his attempted pass landed on Batherson’s stick, who unluckily had his clearing attempt bounce off Nick Jensen’s skate and into the back of his own net with 3:12 remaining in the opening frame.
Tim Stutzle carried the puck throughout the offensive zone until he found an open Batherson on the back door, and the sniper made no mistake for his second goal of the contest 4:30 into the second period.
Amadio made it 4-2 for Ottawa 41 seconds later as he took a short pass from Jensen and sent it into the back of the net.
Nugent-Hopkins had Draisaitl’s shot bank off his skate and into the back of the net for a power-play goal just under two minutes into the third period to make it a one-goal game.
Wild acquire McCarron from Predators
The Minnesota Wild acquired forward Michael McCarron from the Nashville Predators on Tuesday in exchange for a second-round pick in the 2028 NHL Draft.
The trade was officially confirmed shortly after McCarron was a late scratch from Nashville’s Tuesday evening game against the Columbus Blue Jackets for “roster management” reasons.
McCarron, who turns 31 on Saturday, is in his ninth season since Montreal drafted him in the first round (25th overall) in 2013. The last six of those seasons have come in Nashville, where he’s amassed 66 points (31 goals, 35 assists) in 292 games.
This season, McCarron has 12 points (five goals, seven assists) and a team- leading/career-high 165 hits in 59 games for the Predators. This will be a move closer to home for the Grosse Pointe, Mich. native.
McCarron is in the final season of a two-year, $1.8 million extension he signed in February of 2024, effectively making him a rental for Minnesota unless the Wild – who are third in the Central Division at 80 points but 14 points clear of the fourth-place Utah Mammoth – decide to offer him another extension.
The Golden Knights added some forward depth, acquiring winger Cole Smith from the Nashville Predators in exchange for defence prospect Christoffer Sedoff and a 2028 third-round draft pick.
Local schedules
Wednesday
Golden Knights at Red Wings, 7
Rockford at Grand Rapids, 7
Thursday
Michigan State at Minnesota, 8
Friday
Rangers at Red Wings, 7
Grand Rapids at Cleveland, 7
Michigan State at Minnesota, 8
Colorado College at Western Michigan, 7
Bowling Green at Michigan Tech, 7
NTDP U18 at Green Bay, 8
Saturday
Grand Rapids at Cleveland, 4
Sunday
Red Wings at Devils, 7
Bowling Green at Michigan Tech, 6
NTDP U18s at Green Bay, 7
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Hockey roundup: Michigan State eyes Big Ten title; Wild acquire McCarron
Reporting by Detroit News staff and wires / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
