Luke Hughes' last-second goal lifts Michigan over MSU at Duel in the D
Michigan completed the series sweep of the rival Spartans on Saturday night by a score of 4-3. The teams met at Little Caesars Arena in downtown Detroit, after they met at Munn Ice Arena on Friday night, but the venue proved to make no difference as Michigan proved its superiority.
The Wolverines got off to a hot start on Friday night in East Lansing with three goals in the first period. However, the scoring didn't come as easy early on in Saturday night's game.
Despite the slower start, Michigan was still able to strike first with just over four minutes to play in the first period when freshman forward T.J. Hughes found the back of the net on the power play. It was Hughes' 11th goal of the season, and his 29th point of the freshman campaign.
The Spartans responded quickly, though, with an even-strength goal to tie the game going into the second period.
Michigan State then took its first lead of the weekend series in the second period.
The Wolverines didn't let the lead last long, though. Michigan quickly answered with back-to-back goals to steal the lead from the Spartans.
Dylan Duke scored Michigan's second goal of the game on a little bit of a fluke redirect that beat Michigan State goaltender Dylan St. Cyr. Then, less than a minute later, Frank Nazar III beat St. Cyr and recorded the first goal of his young career in just his second game with the Wolverines.
Nazar III, the 13th overall pick of the Chicago Blackhawks, made his season debut on Friday night after missing the first four months of the season due to a lower body injury.
It looked like Michigan would hold off its rival to claim yet another win, but with 4:55 to play in the game, Michigan State was able to beat Michigan goaltender Erik Portillo to tie the game at three goals apiece.
The game went to overtime, and with 0.6 seconds left in the five-minute overtime period, Luke Hughes scored to give Michigan the 4-3 victory. The Wolverines improve to 19-9-1 and 11-8 in the Big Ten.
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