No. 19 Huskies Beat Michigan State 5-4 in Overtime

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Tyler Heinonen scored the game-winning goal 4:19 into overtime to give No. 19 Michigan Tech a 5-4 come-from-behind win over Michigan State tonight (Nov 21) at Munn Ice Arena.

The victory was the first for the Huskies in East Lansing since Dec. 12, 1981, when Tech beat the Spartans 4-3.

"Both teams had their moments in the game," said head coach Mel Pearson, who is now 6-4-1 vs. Big Ten schools in his career at Michigan Tech. "It's very rare that you give up four goals on the road and win, but I liked our ability to stay with it and bring ourselves back. I thought we did a great job of battling back into the game and overall we're obviously happy to win."

The line of Heinonen, Joel L'Esperance and CJ Eick combined for three goals and five assists and were on the ice for four of Tech's five goals.

Heinonen scored twice and assisted on two others. L'Esperance scored the Huskies' second goal and assisted on the game-winner, while Eick notched two assists.

Tech controlled play early and the dominant start paid off when Alex Petan opened the scoring 8:26 in. After the Huskies gained the offensive line, Petan dropped a pass to Michael Neville in the left circle. Neville one-timed the puck on Michigan State goalie Jake Hildebrand, who kicked the rebound right to Petan at the edge of the crease for a tap-in.

Following three consecutive goals by the Spartans, the line of Heinonen, Eick and L'Esperance went to work. L'Esperance pulled the Huskies back to within one goal when he sent a long shot through traffic and into the top corner with 9:45 gone in the second period. Heinonen tied the score at 3-all at 12:13 with another long-range blast, this time sneaking it low on the glove side past Hildebrand.

Michigan State regained the lead before the end of the second, but Mark Auk scored with 1:40 left in regulation to force overtime. After getting the puck at the top of the right circle, Auk faked a shot, turned back towards the line and then quickly fired a shot through traffic and over Hildebrand's glove.

Tech outshot the Spartans 35-34. Goalie Jamie Phillips made 30 saves for his seventh win of the season.

The Huskies (7-4-0 overall; 6-4-0 WCHA) concludes its two-game non-conference series with the Spartans tomorrow (Nov. 22) in East Lansing.