DETROIT – Lansing State Journal sports reporter Nathaniel Bott breaks down ninth-ranked Michigan State’s 3-2 victory over 11th-ranked Michigan in the annual “Duel in the D” on Saturday night at Little Caesars Arena.

What happened

Michigan State was looking to break a six-game losing streak against Michigan in the annual “Duel in the D” at Little Caesars Arena, having earned some momentum in a 5-1 win at Yost Ice Arena on Friday night.

Both sides skated out to a sold-out crowd of 18,410, with “Let’s Go Blue!” and “Go Green! Go White!” chants taking turns echoing throughout the arena. And in that raucous atmosphere, MSU was able to withstand a late Michigan rally to earn a 3-2 win and pivotal series sweep.

For the first time in eight meetings between MSU coach Adam Nightingale and Michigan’s Brandon Naurato, Nightingale’s side struck first. Fourth-line wing Tanner Kelly jumped on a loose puck in the slot, spun, and fired a shot past Wolverines goaltender Jake Barczewski to give the Spartans an early lead.

MSU only allowed Michigan’s vaunted power play to take the ice once. The Wolverines converted that chance in the second period as forward Gavin Brindley found Dylan Duke to level things, 1-1.

MSU’s fourth line, which started the game and matched up frequently with Michigan’s top line, came up big again in response. Forward Tommi Mannisto cycled the puck to the point and senior defenseman Nash Nienhuis. Nienhus’ shot was originally saved, but a rebound popped out to the side of the net where sophomore forward Tiernan Shoudy banged home his third goal of the season.

MSU would double its lead later in the second period after Kelly jumped into a rush with top-line forwards Karsen Dorwart and Isaac Howard. Kelly received a pass from Howard and skated in, faking a shot that drew Barczewski out of the net before delivering a pass to Dorwart, who fired into a practically open net to make it 3-1.

Brindley scored for Michigan on a backdoor play with 9:09 remaining in the third period, but MSU was able to lock down the final minutes and stave off a number of chances for the Wolverines in the final minute of action.

Trey Augustine stopped 36 shots for MSU, as did his counterpart, Barczewski. With Saturday’s win, MSU earned its first regular season series win over Michigan since 2017 and its first two-game series sweep of the Wolverines since 2019.

What it means

MSU is now 20-7-3 overall and 14-4-2 in the Big Ten, five points ahead of second-place Wisconsin, which has played two fewer games than the Spartans. MSU’s final series of the regular season, March 1 and 2, is in Madison. The Spartans are also up to No. 5 in the all-important Pairwise Rankings.

MSU’s season series with Michigan this season tells a great tale. It captured the buy-in that Nightingale wants and perhaps established a benchmark for wins going forward.

This win was No. 20 on the season for the Spartans, who had hadn’t hit that total since the 2008-2009 season — two years after their last national title.

Tanner Kelly’s come was the story of the night

There’s been growth this season to get here. Tanner Kelly’s story is part of that. Kelly came into the first meeting with Michigan this season looking for trouble. Any chance to give a little extra on a check, any opening that Michigan players gave him to react, he jumped at. It led to a 22 penalty minutes for Kelly over two games, including two five-minute majors.

The Spartans lost that first game 7-1. The next night at Yost, Kelly was absent from the lineup. In Nightingale’s eyes, his antics were too detrimental.

And when MSU found itself down 4-1 at Yost, everyone up and down the roster stuck to the gameplan and got rewarded, skating away with an impressive 7-5 come-from-behind win.

MSU and Michigan have always had fireworks on the ice. Big hits. Showboating celebrations. Scrums and fights after whistles galore. But Nightingale is changing the perception of the rivalry. As he puts it, “you don’t have to like them, but you have to respect them.”

Kelly would go on to miss the Minnesota series as well, with his freshman replacement Griffin Jurecki playing well on the fourth line and scoring a goal that sparked a third-period rally in an MSU come-from-behind win.

Kelly finally returned in last week’s Notre Dame series, with this matchup with Michigan circled.

When MSU fell behind Friday night, it was Kelly who made a great individual effort to score a goal 25 seconds later, and MSU never looked back from there. In Detroit on Saturday, Kelly scored the game’s opening goal and made a remarkable play to set up the eventual game-winning goal.

“I think it’s a really good lesson on accountability, and in the first game he took some penalties and we had a conversation and he missed some games,” Nightingale said. “Tanner is a critical piece to our team, but I made a promise to these guys that I was going to hold them accountable and to a standard. I believe in forgiveness but there are consequences to your actions. Tanner did nothing but work and he got back in and that line has been really good for us.”

That line of Shoudy, Mannisto and Kelly, have started the last three games for the Spartans and were the reason MSU won Saturday, contributing on all three goals while consistently matching up and making life difficult for Michigan’s top line.

“Winning tonight was special, but to see Tanner respond the right way when you get held accountable and then get rewarded is a pretty special moment for me as a coach,” Nightingale said.

What’s next

MSU has a bye week before hosting Ohio State on Feb. 23 and 24 in the final home series of the regular season.

Contact Nathaniel Bott at nbott@lsj.com and follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @Nathaniel_Bott