Adam Nightingale shuffles lines, No. 4 Michigan State beats Boston College, 4-3

After a Friday night that was full of hard lessons for the Michigan State hockey team, Saturday night was a night full of optimism that the Spartans can compete with the best teams in college hockey.

After being shutout 3-0 by Boston College on Friday night, Michigan State Head Coach Adam Nightingale made some changes in his lineup for the matchup on Saturday night. The only addition to the lineup was freshman center Mikey DeAngelo who centered the fourth line for the Spartans. However, all four lines were ultimately tweaked slightly from Friday night.

The top three lines all produced a goal on the night, but it was the second line of Isaac Howard, Charlie Stramel and Gavin O’Connell that was the difference behind two goals by the center, Stramel.

“We try to keep some pairs together, some guys that have played together,” Nightingale said following the game. “We haven’t done a ton of changing things up but our staff felt like it was time and it seemed to work tonight.”

Howard moved down from the first line to the second line on Saturday night and replaced Shane Vansaghi who moved down to the fourth line. The left-handed Howard also switched sides going from right wing on Friday to left wing on Saturday. Howard assisted both of Stramel’s goals on the night, while Gavin O’Connell added an assist on Stramel’s first goal as well.

“I wouldn’t say that we knew they would (play well) for sure, but there was enough evidence there,” Nightingale said about his lineup changes. “I thought Strams and Ike were pretty good together up in the Soo and they have known each other a long time, playing together on the national team. Gavin is a really good hockey player too and I thought he was a lot better than he was the night before.”

The Spartans third line which is centered and led by the Spartans’ captain Red Savage was also very productive in the victory Saturday night. After moving up Tiernan Shoudy and Tanner Kelly from the fourth line, all three finished with a +1 goal differential and they all earned a point on Savage’s goal just 30 seconds into the second period, assisted by Shoudy and Kelly.

“I thought those guys were great tonight,” Nightingale said. “I think all three of them are winning hockey players and do a lot of little things that help a team win.”

Their task on Saturday wasn’t little. They were regularly out there against Boston College’s top line all night. The Eagles first line featured sophomore wingers Gabe Perreault and Ryan Leonard who were both first round NHL draft picks in 2023 as well as junior center Oskar Jellvik who was a fifth round draft pick in the 2021 NHL draft.

Perreault and Leonard both scored a goal apiece, while Jellvik was credited with two assists on the goals. However the two goals both came at the end of the first period, just 1:10 from each other and neither came with the third line on the ice for the Spartans.

“Our job is to constantly evaluate and if we think keeping them together gives us our best chance, we’ll do it.”

The victory on Saturday improved Michigan State’s record to 3-1 on the young season. It was also the Spartans’ first of the season on their home ice at Munn Ice Arena in front of a sold-out crowd. However, it also marked a milestone for the program and the arena, it was the 600th time the Spartans have been victorious in their home building which means quite a bit to Nightingale as a former player in the program and now Head Coach.

“That was great. You think about 600 wins in one building, I mean that’s a lot,” Nightingale said. “The teams that have played here, the fans that have come,the players that have played in this rink, the amount of big games, I thought that last minute you could hardly hear yourself think. That was awesome, and that’s what you want.”

Ultimately, Nightingale pushed enough of the right buttons on Saturday night to help his team respond against one of college hockey’s best programs in Boston College. The showing by the Spartans on Saturday proved that they can respond to some adversity and a loss on Friday night, and win against the nation’s best.

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