By Jacob Messing

It was the worst of games, it was the best of games.

Michigan State’s series with Wisconsin was a tale of two days for the Spartans, who on Friday lost a wild 6-3 shootout to the Badgers only to turn around and smash a 2-0 shutout of their opponents at home in East Lansing, Michigan.

In a battle of Big Ten contenders, the story couldn’t have looked more different from the first game to the second.

#Badgers score a season-high six goals in the win! pic.twitter.com/etxbwqzDRr

— Wisconsin Hockey (@BadgerMHockey) November 11, 2017

Wisconsin Scores First — And Keeps Scoring

A three-goal first period proved too much for Sparty.

Badgers forward Matthew Freytag scored his fourth goal of the season just two minutes into Friday’s game before leading scorers Will Johnson and Ryan Wagner each added goals just over three minutes apart.

John Lethemon replaced Ed Minney following the third goal, which seemed to put life into the Spartans, who didn’t allow a shot in the final 4:42 of the period.

The Spartans cut the lead to one early in the second period, as Mitchell Lewandowski assisted on a power play goal from Cody Milan before scoring his team-leading fourth of the year.

But Wisconsin kept pushing, and freshman Tarek Baker found the back of the net again for what would become the game-winning goal, giving the Badgers another two-goal lead to take into the final frame.

Cameron Hughes stretched the lead to three just 43 seconds into the third and defenseman Wyatt Kalynuk scored his first of the year for Wisconsin’s second power play goal of the campaign. The Spartans didn’t quit, as Lewandowski added his second of the game, a power play goal from Milan.

 A few shots from tonight’s 2-0 victory over Wisconsin pic.twitter.com/oFUheKNHnI

— MSU_Hockey (@MSU_Hockey) November 12, 2017

Michigan State Responds With Crackdown D

In the second game, the Spartans stuck to the plan laid out in FloHockey’s matchup preview from Wednesday, maintaining a defensive structure and allowing the offense to come naturally from the top line of Lewandowski, Taro Hirose, and Patrick Khodorenko.

The three created all the offense in game two, and Lethemon made a career-high 38 saves for his second shutout of the year and of his career.

“He was good; he was real calm,” coach Danton Cole told the Lansing State Journal, speaking of Lethemon. “Sometimes when goalies are having a good game they make it look easy. He was square to pucks, and things were hitting him, he wasn’t kicking a lot of rebounds and was just really calm.”

Milan opened the scoring with a power play goal assisted from Hirose and Khodorenko before MSU was forced to kill three consecutive Badgers power plays.

Lewandowski scored his third of the weekend and sixth of the year at the 11:39 mark of the third as Hirose and Khodorenko each added their second assists of the game.

MSU lost its first home game (5-1-0, 5-5-0 overall) while Wisconsin lost its first road game (3-1-0, 7-5-1 overall) and is likely facing a drop when the polls come out.

MSU has a home and home with Ferris State this weekend and Wisconsin returns home to host Michigan for its third Big Ten series of the season.

Have a question or a comment for Jacob Messing? You can find him on Twitter @JMessing23.