No. 15 Ohio State scored two unanswered goals to break a 1-1 tie and then iced the game with an empty-netter to earn a 4-1 victory at Munn Ice Arena on Friday evening.

The Spartans (11-13-1, 5-10-0) got on the board first, when Tanner Kelly redirected a Cole Krygier shot from the right point, with Jagger Joshua getting the secondary assist. A weird goal tied things for the Buckeyes (17-7-1, 9-5-1 B1G) before the first period expired, when a backhanded shot by Tate Singleton got by Drew DeRidder and lodged between the top of the back of the goalcage and the netting.

OSU scored late in the second on a beautiful pass by Georgii Merkulov, as his centering pass found Cam Thiesing for the freshman's sixth goal of the season with just over three minutes remaining in the period. Eric Cooley finished off a Joe Dunlap rush at 7:09 in the third to take the 3-1 lead, and then got an empty-netter with DeRidder on the bench in favor of an extra skater.

The Buckeyes had a slim edge in shots on goal (39-32), but MSU held a 15-3 edge in blocked shots, led by three from Kristof Papp. Both Jeremy Davidson and Erik Middendorf had five shots on net, but both had sure-looking goals stolen by Buckeye goalie Jakob Dobes, who finished with 31 stops on the night.

Michigan State gets the series finale with the Buckeyes tomorrow at 6 pm at Munn Ice Arena.