Yeah, I’ll take one of those! (Bryan Fuller)

OFFENSE

· Analysis: So, this was similar to and actually better than last night, but the pucks didn’t go into the net. It’s also more complicated than that. Michigan’s problem is that they have basically 1.5 scoring lines. Last night, Calderone netted a hat trick. Tonight, the DMC line didn’t score and neither did Michigan. Remember the CCM line? They had an additional 1.5 competent lines behind them. That is not the case this year. Michigan’s offense will seemingly go as their top line does. Also, MSU’s defense did a nice job of generally keeping Michigan from really great scoring chances all around.

[After THE JUMP: stats and discussion of defense, special teams, goaltending, and odd-man rushes. Also, a picture of a self-inflicted wedgie]

DEFENSE

· Analysis: Bad. This isn’t a reflection of the numbers, per se, but guys were open everywhere. This is a spoiler, but Michigan got caught a number of times in the neutral zone as well, leading to too many rushes into the defensive end. MSU seems to run a system that doesn’t shoot the puck at every available opportunity. They pass and move and look for good shots. And they got them. Consistently. They also converted them. This defense still needs a lot of work.

One of these, too! (Bryan Fuller)

SPECIAL TEAMS

· Analysis: I’m not sure how the power play statistics were tracked. I’m a little leery of three attempts all going in for MSU…BUT…we’ll keep this generic. Michigan’s penalty kill was bad. The Spartans moved the puck all over the place and generated two great goals and another from a poor angle. On the power play, Michigan didn’t look a lot better. They haven’t scored on the man advantage in five games. Something has to be addressed in that regard…obviously.

GOALTENDING

· Analysis: Over half of MSU’s shots came from the house. That is not ideal. Lavigne started and was chased. JLF came in and gave up a power play goal from an unchecked guy in the slot. Look, the goaltending has not been top-notch by any means, but so many goals can be directed back to defensive mistakes. Would you like your goalies to bail you out all of the time? Sure, but this is college hockey and game-stealers are probably playing professionally. If the defense doesn’t get better, this section won’t really matter.

Yeah, pretty much (Marc-Gregor Campredon)

ODD-MAN RUSHES

· Analysis: Michigan gave up four OMRs and no goals because of them. Yet they still gave up five goals. Whoa. This could have been REALLY horrendous. It was very much like the last couple of years when 3+ OMRs were very common. Not Good.

FINAL CORSI NUMBERS

I had: Michigan 55(24), Michigan State 42(15)

www.collegehockeynews.com has not posted yet. You’'ll need to look this one up yourself.