For the first time in six meetings all-time, Princeton got the better of Michigan State.
The Tigers, who were swept at MSU last season, edged the Spartans by a 3-1 count on Friday night at Hobey Baker Rink, as David Hallisey's second-period goal stood up as the game-winner. Colton Phinney finished with 44 saves for Princeton (2-6-1), which was blanked in two ECAC games last weekend at Clarkson and St. Lawrence, and had scored just eight goals total in its first eight outings this season.
"When we score two or more goals we're undefeated this year, so it's nice to see the puck go into the net a couple times," said Tigers head coach Ron Fogarty at goprincetontigers.com. "The guys are buying in and they just stayed with it."
Jonathan Liau tied the game for the Tigers off a rebound midway through the second stanza, after Michael Ferrantino had given MSU a 1-0 lead on a power-play one-timer following a scoreless first period.
After Hallisey put Princeton up by a 2-1 count with 5:25 remaining before the second intermission, Ben Foster beat Spartan netminder Jake Hildebrand (23 saves) on the stick side just over three minutes into the third period on a power play. That shot closed out the scoring, despite 20 shots on goal in the final 20 minutes by the Spartans.
"We've had a difficult time trying to score and had some quality chances again tonight and we didn't take advantage of them," said Spartans head coach Tom Anastos at msuspartans.com. "We just have to keep generating the chances and getting traffic in front of the net and hopefully those pucks will start to go in."
MSU (4-8-0), which split a pair of games at Big Ten rival Ohio State last weekend, outshot Princeton, 45-26, and was 1-for-4 with the man advantage while Princeton finished 1-for-3.The two teams will wrap up the series on Saturday night at Baker Rink.
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