Krug leads Spartans to win over Michigan
By Michael Caples –
EAST LANSING – For a while, it looked like the Wolverines would pick up a convincing win in their main rival’s building. Then Torey Krug took over.
The Spartans captain scored a goal in the second period, then another goal in the third period to erase a 2-0 lead by the visiting Wolverines. Then, he helped set up Matt Berry’s game-winning goal 4:07 into the third period to lead MSU to a 3-2 win.
The win moves Michigan State into a three-way tie for third place in the CCHA standings with Michigan and Lake Superior State.
Krug, a Livonia native, acknowledged that he couldn’t keep from grinning during his post-game press conference.
“I mean, look at the smile on my face right now,” Krug said. “I love playing these guys, everybody in our locker room loves playing these guys, and they love playing us. It’s just something that you love to do.
“When you play these games, you’re not playing for just the guys in the locker room, you’re not playing just for the people who attend the school, you’re playing for a whole country – there’s Spartans everywhere, and we played for them tonight.”
It’s not the first time the Spartans leader has brought his ‘A’ game to the series with MSU’s top rival. Last season, as a sophomore, he recorded a hat trick in a 4-3 overtime win over Michigan at Munn on Jan. 7.
His performance even earned the praise of the opposition.
“Well he’s a good player,” said Michigan coach Red Berenson after the game. “He’s an elite player in this league, and your hope is to keep him off the scoresheet. But he’s definitely a good player. They’ve got good players just like we do. Our good players have to play better, and we’ve got to shut down some of their guys.”
After a scoreless first period, Bloomfield native A.J. Treais broke open the scoring for the Wolverines, finishing off a two-on-one with Phil Di Giuseppe at the 4:28 mark of the second.
Kevin Lynch extended Michigan’s lead to two when he outmuscled the Spartans defenders in front of the MSU goal to sweep a shot through goaltender Will Yanakeff.
But 2:26 later, a centering pass attempt by MSU’s Brock Shelgren found it’s way back to Krug near the point, and the MSU captain fired a shot through traffic and past Michigan goaltender Shawn Hunwick. The goal rejuvenated a sold-out Munn Ice Arena crowd before the second intermission.
Just over a minute into the third period, Krug took a cross-ice pass from Greg Wolfe and fired in his second goal of the night, giving the Spartans another momentum-building goal. The Spartans captain was able to find a shooting lane after faking an initial slapshot, something he said was suggested by Spartans coach Tom Anastos.
“Coach told me, actually told me to drop a fake and then their guys will go down for a block and step around them and get the puck through,” Krug said. “It worked there on the second goal. He came up me afterwards and said ‘stick what I’m telling you, and we’ll go places.'”
Three minutes later, Krug ended up with the puck just inside the blue line, and patiently waited for the right play with the puck. Deking to the backhand in the slot, Krug managed to get the puck to freshman Matt Berry at the left post, who fired a shot past Hunwick for the deciding goal.
“Big-time players play big on the big stage,” Anastos said. “That’s what he did tonight. He was a catalyst for us offensively, he played with great emotion and yet great discipline. You know, early in the game he took a couple pretty big hits, and yet, he stayed very poised, he stayed cool, and I was really proud of his effort tonight, because he was really good. I enjoyed watching him.”