Michigan hockey beats Michigan State at Little Caesars Arena, sweeps series

It has been an up and down season for Michigan hockey, but they may be starting to find their groove after all. And it just so happened to occur against the Michigan State Spartans.

Michigan beat Sparty on Friday night 5-3 in Ann Arbor, but the second game in the series was on Saturday at the Little Caesars Arena, home of the Detroit Red Wings.

The game at LCA was called “Duel in the D”

It didn’t take long for Michigan to get on the board, scoring just 5:31 into the game.

By the end of the 2nd Period Michigan had a 2-0 lead on MSU, before a crazy 3rd Period featured five goals. MSU did narrow the lead to 3-2 in the late stages but then Michigan put the game away with two empty netters, winning the Duel in the D 5-2.

The series sweep over the Spartans puts Michigan (12-11-6, 8-7-4-2) at second in the Big Ten standings heading into their game Tuesday at Notre Dame.

The Wolverines will have to keep their momentum going if they hope to reach the NCAA Tournament. With only five games remaining until the Big Ten Tournament, Michigan’s best bet would be to win it, there’s not much margin for error. Michigan is currently ranked No. 22 in the Pairwise Rankings, and need to bump that ranking up to at least No. 16 to have a legitimate shot at making the tournament.

But for now, Michigan had a great night at a great venue, winning in Detroit with 15,185 fans in attendance.

Watch highlights of the Duel in the D below: