Anemic offense again dooms MSU, 3-1

EAST LANSING - For the second straight night, Michigan State found itself down by one goal late in the third period.

Unlike Friday night, however, there would be no last-minute rally to pull out a much-need victory.

Instead, the Spartans' bid for their first series sweep of the season fell short.

Alaska broke a 1-1 tie with a power-play goal early in the third period and went on to a 3-1 victory on Saturday and a split of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association series in front of 5,590 fans at Munn Arena.

MSU's only goal was scored by freshman forward Andrew Conboy off a deflection on a power play at 14:55 of the second period that tied the game 1-1.

For the most part, MSU played a solid game with good energy, but like they have all season, the Spartans couldn't generate many quality scoring chances and couldn't finish when they did.

"We played well enough to have the lead going into the third period,'' MSU coach Rick Comley said. "But sometimes our youth really shows and when you get behind, it's tough.

"We played well at times, but when you can't score, it's just frustrating. We didn't give up much for two periods. But our inability to score continues to haunt us.''

The Spartans (6-13-3 overall, 3-9-2-2 CCHA), who won Friday's series opener 2-1, and the Nanooks (10-6-4, 8-5-3-2) traded goals in the second period and entered the final 20 minutes deadlocked.

But MSU senior defenseman Brandon Gentile took an elbowing penalty at 3:48 of the third period and that led to UA freshman defensman Joe Sova's game-winner on a shot from the blue line in the middle of the ice at 4:55.

The Spartans worked hard over the next 10 minutes in an bid to tie it but UA's defense didn't give up much. The Nanooks went up by two goals on a fluke by Derek Klassen - his second goal of the night - as his shot from the left boards from 45 feet out eluded MSU goalie Jeff Lerg at 14:28.

"They play well with the lead and with that (defensive) style,'' Comley said. "A lot of our guys worked hard but we need a couple guys to step up. We can't continue to score just one goal a game.''

Lerg stopped 29 shots, and, other than the third goal, had another solid game. MSU was 1-for-4 on the power play. UA was 1-for-3.

The Nanooks started backup goaltender Scott Greenham, a 6-foot-3, 180-pound freshman from Addison, Ontario, who had not allowed a goal in his two previous starts in early October.

Senior goalie Chad Johnson, who has a stellar 1.62 goals-against average, made 16 consecutive starts before getting Saturday off.

Johnson looked sharp in making 31 saves, including 16 in the first period.

The Spartans played a strong opening period and while they didn't have a lot of quality scoring chances they worked hard in the offensive zone and were responsible defensively.

The Nanooks came out stronger in the second period, had better rushes, and applied more pressure in the MSU zone.

UA's energy finally paid off as Klassen made a nice play to get to a rebound in the slot and turn and shoot the puck into the left corner for a 1-0 lead at 13:18.

The Spartans came right back and almost scored after a scramble in the crease with Daultan Leveille and Dustin Gazley whacking at the puck, but Greenham made the save at 14:02. The play was reviewed by the referees and ruled no goal.

But 46 seconds later, MSU went on the power play and seven seconds after the puck was dropped for a faceoff in the UA zone, the Spartans tied it on Conboy's deflecting of a wrist shot by Tim Crowder from the right point.

Just over a minute later, MSU got another power-play opportunity, but this time the Nanooks killed it off, sending the teams into the intermission deadlocked at one goal apiece.