By Jacob Messing

The No. 19-ranked Michigan Wolverines may be slumping, and the Michigan State Spartans may be in rebuilding mode, but don’t think for a second that the battle for the Great Lake State will be anything but brutal and heated this weekend.

Michigan hopes to get back into the win column as the regular season winds down. The Wolverines, 13-13-2, have just one win in their past four games. They’ll be up against the rival Spartans, who bested them in their last meeting; Michigan State is playing for its path out of the Big Ten conference basement.

The two teams met in early December, when a home-and-home series generously favored the host. The Wolverines posted a 4-0 shutout in Ann Arbor before the Spartans used East Lansing to turn the tables in a shutout of their own, winning 5-0.

This week, the Spartans host the Wolverines on Friday at 7 PM EST followed by a game at Little Caesars Arena on Saturday at the same time. The first game will be streamed live right here on FloHockey.

New Cover Photo.#GoBlue // #BeatState pic.twitter.com/KkNf8O1AAV

— Michigan Hockey (@umichhockey) February 6, 2018

Michigan is one point back on Wisconsin for third place in the Big Ten with just six games remaining. The Wolverines need to bring their A-game for the final stretch, as they face No. 1 Notre Dame and a blossoming Arizona State team after Michigan State.

Those wins won’t come easy. In his first season with Michigan, coach Mel Pearson has an eye on a bid to the national tournament and his team is climbing the PairWise Rankings, an algorithm that determines a team’s ability to reach the postseason showcase.

“We don’t talk about it with our team much but as coaches, we keep an eye on it,” Pearson told Anna Marcus of The Michigan Daily on Tuesday. “It could affect decisions a little bit as far as who you play. Do you play a shorter bench? Do you pull your goalie earlier in games now maybe if you’re behind? So I think you have to have a pulse on what’s going on and where you’re at.”

The Spartans, 10-17-1, would love to play the spoiler against their rival. After breaking a four-game losing streak with a 6-3 upset over No. 5 Ohio State last weekend, confidence should be high.

“We dug deep, played well, and it was a gutsy effort,” coach Danton Cole told Neil Koepke of MSUSpartans.com. “There was a lot of energy and great emotion. We executed, moved pucks, and played fast.”

Speed and passing have been a large part of the Spartans recipe for success this season, but an inconsistent effort has dragged them to the bottom of the Big Ten.

“If you’re a top-five team, you’re as good as anybody in the country,” Cole said. “And they’re a good hockey team. Ohio State is deep and they defend well.”

The Spartans speed and passing has fueled the offense, which has been the go-to part of the Spartans game. Inconsistency on the blue line and in the crease has struggled to bail out the team on the off nights of the offense, which is still very young.

Freshman Mitchell Lewandowski and sophomores Taro Hirose and Patrick Khodorenko have made up the top line all season and as the team’s three leading scorers, look like a growing threat for the next couple of seasons.

Don’t miss the trio go up against another ranked team in Michigan. FloHockey will stream this weekend’s opening game of the series live right here on FloHockey, Friday at 7 PM.

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