The No. 16 ASU hockey team split its two-game series against No. 18 Michigan State in East Lansing over the weekend. With the split, ASU picked up its ninth victory and fifth loss of the 2019-20 season.
Friday
After finishing the previous series with a tie against then No. 4 Denver, ASU escaped with a 4-3 victory over MSU in the first game of the weekend.
Sophomore forward PJ Marrocco got ASU on the board first, just 7:30 into the game. Marrocco, who also scored in the tie against Denver last Saturday, has four goals and three assists on the season.
Junior forward James Sanchez continued his strong start to the season by scoring at the end of the first for his sixth goal and team-leading 19th point of the season.
After allowing a goal from MSU forward Tommy Apap midway through the second, ASU junior defenseman Jacob Wilson scored a minute and 23 seconds later to give ASU another insurance goal.
The Spartans scored two more goals within the first half of the final period to tie the game, but junior forward Johnny Walker deflected a shot put on net with 5:40 left in the game to give ASU the go-ahead tally.
Sophomore goaltender Evan DeBrouwer made 32 saves on 35 shots, and senior forward Tyler Busch had two assists to help the Sun Devils down the Spartans. Wilson also ended with two points on the night.
Saturday
Friday night's game may have produced a lot of scoring, but tides took a turn when the puck dropped at 3:00 p.m. MST on Sunday. ASU and MSU both held each other scoreless throughout all three periods of regulation.
DeBrouwer made 33 saves in the first three periods, while MSU's John Lethmon posted 35.
After regulation came a five minute overtime period, in which the Spartans' Mitchell Lewandowski broke the scoreless tie.
Prior to Sunday's loss, ASU hadn't dropped a game since Nov. 8 against Alaska Fairbanks.
ASU (9-5-2) will resume play on Saturday Dec. 21 against the Nebraska Omaha Mavericks (7-7-2) at 6:07 p.m. MST.
Reach the reporter at aklatsky@asu.edu and follow @averyklatsky on Twitter.
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