Martone hat trick paces Spartans in eight-goal effort against Notre Dame

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EAST LANSING – After a 4-2 win in a tightly-contested game with Notre Dame last night, the No. 1 Michigan State hockey program eyed a sweep over the Irish to stay in the driver's seat in the Big Ten regular season title race.

Although Notre Dame sits at the bottom of the conference standings, the Irish showed that MSU would need to be on its A-game, or the Spartans could be at risk of an upset. But, after both sides battled to a 1-1 draw through 20 minutes, MSU opened the floodgates with a four-goal second period en route to an 8-2 series-sweeping win.

MSU scored twice on the power play, once in even-strength, and one shorthanded goal while having to kill off over eight minutes of penalty time in the middle stanza.

Freshman forward Porter Martone scored a goal in each period to complete a hat trick, while freshman forward Ryker Lee scored twice to pace the Spartans' offensive onslaught.

Martone opened the scoring on the power play just over a minute into the game, with Notre Dame answering on its own man advantage later in the period.

Lee would break the tie with MSU's second power play goal early in the second period, sniping a shot over Notre Dame goaltender Luke Pearson for his 10th goal of the season.

MSU thought it went up by two on an Eric Nilson goal minutes later, but after a Notre Dame challenge for a major penalty, Spartan forward Cayden Lindstrom was assessed a five-minute major and game misconduct for contact to the head, wiping the goal off the board.

MSU would ultimately kill off six minutes and 16 seconds straight of penalties, with MSU goaltender Trey Augustine making eight saves throughout Notre Dame's advantage.

Martone jumped on a loose puck to spring himself on a mini breakaway, and despite being hooked on his way to the net, managed to get a backhanded shot away after MSU's long penalty kill to officially give the Spartans a 3-1 lead.

During a separate kill, MSU forward Tommi Mannisto won the race to the puck and scored a shorthanded goal, though Notre Dame would respond on the same power play to keep it a two-score game. That was until Owen West scored on a point shot through traffic to give MSU a three-goal lead after two periods.

Martone capitalized on a rebound chance in the third period to complete his hat trick and give him 20 goals on the season.

Junior forward Griffin Jurecki scored his second goal of the season shortly after on a 2-on-1 break with Mannisto, who delivered a perfect feed before Jurecki snapped a shot home. Lee would steal a breakout pass in the Notre Dame zone 20 seconds later and beat Pearson on a breakaway in the third to make it an 8-2 game.

Augustine stopped 24 shots, while Pearson made 34 saves for the Irish. Senior forward Daniel Russell added two more assists to give him a team-high 27 on the season, while forwards Anthony Romani and Gavin O'Connell, as well as defensemen Matt Basgall and Maxim Strbak, each recorded one assist.

What's next

The Spartans will host Ohio State final regular-season series at Munn Ice Arena on Feb. 27 and 28, with a senior day ceremony following the series finale.

Contact Nathaniel Bott at [email protected] and follow him on X @Nathaniel_Bott

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Martone hat trick paces Spartans in eight-goal effort against Notre Dame

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