Feb. 8, 2003

Final Stats

Bowling Green, Ohio - Bowling Green cut its deficit to just one goal midway through the second period before visiting Michigan State scored three unanswered goals in the final 4:29 of the second period to go onto a 6-3 victory at the BGSU Ice Arena. A season-high 4,152 were in attendance.

Two goals in the third period, one by freshman Mike Falk at 1:24 and one by sophomore Ryan Minnabarriet at 16:26, brought the Falcons to within two goals, 5-3. BGSU maintained the pressure and pulled goalie Jordan Sigalet for an extra attacker. However, MSU's Brian Maloney scored an empty-net goal at 19:14 to seal the win for the Spartans. BGSU held a 11-8 shot advantage in the third period.

MSU got an early 2-0 lead in the game when forward Jim Slater scored a short-handed goal on BGSU's first power play of the game at 1:41 of the first period. Then fellow defenseman John-Michael Liles scored at 5:20 to give the Spartans a two-goal lead early in the first period.

The BGSU defense settled down, not allowing another goal for the remainder of the first period. MSU held a 11-8 shot advantage in the first 20 minutes.

BGSU's Roger Leonard got cut the deficit to one (2-1) when he scored at 12:44 of the second period. Brian Escobedo stole the puck from a MSU player and passed to Leonard for his fifth goal of the season.

However, MSU answered less than three minutes later with a power-play goal by Mike Lalonde at 15:31 to extend its lead back to two goals, 3-1. Then, Kevin Estrada scored at 16:03 and Brad Fast scored at 17:52 to build the Spartans' lead up to 5-1 heading into the final intermission. MSU held a 17-9 shot advantage in the second period.

Falk got the home crowd excited early in the third period with his seventh goal of the season at 1:24 of the third. D'Arcy McConvey and Chris Pedota assisted on the goal that cut the deficit to 5-2. Later in the third, Minnabarriet scored his first goal in six games (sixth of the season) at 16:26 to put the Falcons within striking distance, 5-3. Ryan Barnett and Falk assisted on the goal. But, Brian Maloney scored an empty-net goal at 19:14 of the third period to give MSU the final 6-3 verdict.

MSU outshot Bowling Green 36-28 for the game and were 1-for-4 on the power play. BGSU was held scoreless with the man-advantage (0-for-4). Sigalet ended with 30 saves on 35 shots faced while Matt Migliaccio had 25 saves for the Spartans.

MSU improved to 16-10-2 overall and 12-7-1 in the CCHA. The Falcons fell to 7-17-2 overall and 4-14-2 in conference play. It was the first loss at home for Sigalet (3-1-2) this season.

Falk extended his goal streak to a season-best four games and McConvey extended his assist streak to a career-high four games. JR Mark Wires had his career-best five-game point streak snapped in the loss.

Bowling Green hosts Notre Dame next weekend (Feb. 14-15) for a two-game CCHA series. Face-offs for both games are scheduled for 7:05 p.m.