SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Sammy Nelson was the hero in the series-opening win over No. 4 Michigan State, scoring his second goal of the night to give Notre Dame a 3-2 overtime victory. Thursday’s game was presented by Jordan Lexus of Mishawaka.
The win gives the Irish three straight victories, all in Big Ten play and two coming in overtime. Notre Dame is now 5-6 on the season and 3-2 in the Big Ten.
Sammy Nelson turned in the best performance of his young career, finishing with two goals, his first multi-goal game as a collegiate player. Both of Sammy’s goals were assisted by one of his two older brothers on the team, Danny.
Pano Fimis also scored in the win, marking his second-straight game with a goal and fourth straight with a point. Fimis also continued his strong play at the faceoff dot, winning 10-of-15 faceoffs to lead the Irish.
Freshman goaltender Patrick Quinlan had another standout performance in net, making 33 saves while allowing two goals to pick up his third win in as many games.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Notre Dame controlled much of the opening period, recording 10 shots to Michigan State’s six over the first 20 minutes of play but neither team was able to find the back of the net as the game entered the first intermission scoreless at 0-0.
The game sprang to life in the early stages of the second period, as both teams found the back of the net in the opening first four minutes of the period to make it 1-1.
The Spartans struck first off a goal from Shane Vansaghi to break the deadlock at the 1:56 mark of the second.
Notre Dame instantly responded as Danny Nelson threaded a perfect pass to his younger brother Sammy on the backside, who redirected the puck into the net to level the score at 1-1 just over three minutes into the period.
Quinlan made a number of quality saves in the final 10 minutes of the second period to keep the game knotted up at 1-1 heading into the second intermission.
Despite outshooting the Spartans by a margin of 11-4 over the first 10 minutes of the third period, the Spartans managed to retake the lead, as Vansaghi scored his second goal of the evening to put the visitors in front 2-1.
The Fighting Irish once again showed their resilience and came back and scored the equalizer to tie the game at 2-2 at the 10:59 mark of the third courtesy of a goal from Fimis. The sophomore collected the loose puck off the shot from Henry Nelson just outside the crease and calmly placed his shot past the Spartan keeper in the back of the net.
Neither team found the game winner in regulation, sending the game to the extra five-minute session of 3-on-3 overtime.
Sammy Nelson sent the Irish faithful home in the first 30 seconds of overtime, scoring the game winner for his first multi-goal game of his collegiate career. The freshman lost the initial faceoff and then won back possession before skating by a defenseman and firing a shot from the edge of the circle into the back of the net to deliver Notre Dame the 3-2 victory.
ND NOTES
- Sammy Nelson's goal 21 seconds into overtime was the quickest overtime goal scored by the Irish since Cam Morrison's winner at RPI 13 seconds into the extra session and is the quickest overtime goal at home in program history
- The Irish improve to 34-33-1 against Michigan State when playing in South Bend
- Notre Dame overcame two deficits in the win, trailing both 1-0 and 2-1
- The Irish tied the game up within four minutes of both go-ahead goals from the Spartans
- Notre Dame finished with 17 blocks compared to Michigan State’s five over the course of the game
- For the second straight game, and third time this season, all three Nelson brothers registered at least one point (Sammy - 2G, Danny 2A, Henry - 1A)
- The Irish are 3-0 when all three Nelson brothers have recorded a point in the same game
- Sammy Nelson now has five points on the season with three goals and two assists and is the second Notre Dame player with multiple goals in a game this season, joining his brother Danny
- Fimis has a point in four straight games and has five on the season off three goals and two assists
- Danny Nelson has now totaled multiple points in three straight games, finishing with two assists in the win
- Danny Nelson has a team-high 12 points off five goals and seven assists
- Paul Fischer has four assists over his last three games and is tied for the team lead in assists with seven
UP NEXT
The Irish and Spartans play game two of the series at 7 p.m. ET on Friday, Nov. 13 inside Compton Family Ice Arena. The game will be streamed on Peacock.