Michigan State hockey starts fast, can't keep up with No. 1 Minnesota in 5-1 Big Ten semifinal loss

Michigan State hockey's quest for a Big Ten title came to an end on Saturday night at 3m Arena at Mariucci, where No. 1-ranked Minnesota rallied for five unanswered goals and a 5-1 victory to advance to the championship game of the Big Ten tournament.

MSU, which won its first ever Big Ten tournament series last weekend at Notre Dame, slips to 18-18-2. Minnesota advances to host Michigan in the league title game next Saturday.

MSU got on the board first on the power play after Minnesota's Logan Cooley got whistled for elbowing in front of the Gophers bench. MSU captain Miroslav Mucha cycled the puck to the point, received a return pass and sent the puck across to Jeremy Davidson, who one-timed a shot past Minnesota goaltender Justen Close to take a 1-0 lead.

Minnesota answered on its first power play chance later in the first period, as forward Matthew Knies sent a perfect pass to Jaxon Nelson, who beat MSU goaltender Dylan St. Cyr to tie things up.

Minnesota started to generate more buzz as the period went on, and with just over two minutes left in the first period, freshman forward John Mittlestadt redirected a point shot from defenseman Ryan Chesley through traffic and into the net, giving the Gophers a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes.

Minnesota extended its lead two minutes into the second period, as a shot hit the stick of MSU defenseman Matt Basgall and bounced right to Minnesota forward Aaron Huglen, who deposited the puck into an empty net.

MSU's comeback chances took a serious hit early in the third period when a shot from Cooley deflected off the glass behind the net and fluttered back over the net, hitting St. Cyr in the back before falling over the goal line to extend the Gophers' lead to 4-1.

Cooley added an empty-net goal with 4:01 to play to make it a 5-1 final.

MSU, who still sits in 16th in the Pairwise rankings following the loss, will need a lot of help with other teams outside the Big Ten dropping games in the postseason. Most notably, the Spartans need Minnesota State to beat Northern Michigan in the CCHA final to prevent a bid steal by the Wildcats that would push the cut-off line for the NCAA tournament to the top 14 in the Pairwise.

Contact Nathaniel Bott at nbott@lsj.com and follow him on Twitter @Nathaniel_Bott

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Michigan State hockey starts fast, can't keep up with No. 1 Minnesota