Porter Martone keeps scoring, Michigan State keeps winning

The Michigan State Spartans returned to action this weekend with a two-game series against another Big Ten opponent; Notre Dame. Porter Martone would open the series with his first multi-goal game at the collegiate level, and followed it up with another tally on Saturday night.

On Friday night, the Spartans took control from the first drop of the puck. They found their way into the offensive zone with ease, created chaos on the forecheck, and took a ton of shots at the net. In the opening frame alone, Michigan State peppered Notre Dame goaltender Nicholas Kempf with 21 shots. The final shot count was 47 to 25 in favor of the Spartans as they took game one by a final score of 4-1. Game two was much closer, with Notre Dame living up to their name and showing a lot more fight. Shots were 33 to 29 Michigan State, who completed the series sweep with a 3-1 final.

Freshman forward, and the Flyers’ 2025 first round draft pick, Porter Martone was the star of the series, with two goals in game one and another in game two. Fellow 2025 first rounder, Ryker Lee, flashed his creativity with several slick plays, picking up two goals and an assist for his efforts. Spartans netminder Trey Augustine stopped 52 of 54 shots (.963 save percentage) and Charlie Stramel picked up three assists.

Game 1

Martone’s first goal was a beauty off the rush. Picking up a loose puck in the defensive zone, Martone exits the zone and finds Daniel Russell in the neutral zone. As Russell pulls the Notre Dame defender wide towards him, Stramel turns on the burners and cuts down the middle of the ice. Russell hits him with an entry pass and Stramel makes a great backhand saucer pass to Martone cutting towards the net, who freezes Kempf and puts home the first goal of the night.

Following a somewhat lousy start to a power play that saw the Spartans struggle to enter the offensive zone cleanly, Martone is able to retrieve the puck near the offensive blue line, make a pass into the zone, and go to work. A couple of perimeter passes later, and Lee finds Martone with a cross-ice pass. After corralling the pass with his skate, Martone inches his way closer to the net and beats a screened Kempf up high for his second of the game.

After Notre Dame got on the board with a power play goal, Martone would again be involved offensively, though this time he wouldn’t get a point on the play. His linemates Russell and Stramel did some excellent work along the boards, concluding with Stramel finding Maxim Štrbák sneaking in from the point. With a lot of commotion and bodies in front, Martone included, Štrbák was able to put the Spartans back up by two.

Martone came close to re-directing Štrbák’s shot, which would have completed the hat trick. He had several quality scoring chances later in the game, but Kempf was able to deny his attempts the rest of the way. However, maybe the most impressive thing from this game? This move from Ryker Lee.

Game 2

Lee opened the scoring in game two off a sick behind the back pass from Anthony Romani. Michigan State skaters had been pulling off all sorts of tricks this weekend, with Romani’s assist serving as another example.

Augustine made maybe one of his most impactful stops in the closing seconds of the first period, when Sutter Muzzatti snuck behind the Spartans defenders in the neutral zone and came in on a breakaway. While a lot of the conversation surrounding Michigan State has been about the forwards, Augustine has had a tremendous start to the season. The Red Wings’ 2023 second-round draft pick has stopped 94.8% of the shots he’s faced through nine games.

Martone’s goal on Saturday night was similar to his first on Friday. Stramel keeps the puck in the offensive zone with his skates and makes a tough pass right between two defenders, hitting Martone in stride. Another quick deke to the backhand led to Martone scoring his third goal of the series.

Entering the third up 2-1, it looked as if Tommi Männistö had given the Spartans their two goal lead back. However, after a review determined that there was goaltender interference on the play, the Spartans’ lead remained one. Things got a little bit sloppy for the Spartans in the middle of the third, with Augustine being called upon to make some difficult saves to keep their lead intact. With about two minutes remaining, Notre Dame pulled their goalie for the extra attacker, leading to a Männistö empty-netter to all but seal the game.

It was a bit of a quiet series for Flyers prospects outside of Martone. Shane Vansaghi was held off of the scoresheet, but did fire six shots on net. His center since game one, Cayden Lindstrom, missed both games this weekend. For Notre Dame, Cole Knuble wasn’t super noticeable on Friday night, but after a move to wing, was much more effective in game two. There was one shorthanded chance in particular from Knuble that stood out, but it was ultimately deflected high.

Martone’s weekend highlights

With a three-goal series, Martone is now up to 7 goals and 7 assists for 14 points. Ten games in, he’s on pace for a 23-goal, 46-point season (34 games). While Martone’s shooting percentage of 22.6 percent is a bit high, it’s not a completely unheard of figure. Cole Eiserman finished last season with a shooting percentage of 23.4 percent, leading NCAA skaters. Even if that does fall some, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him both shoot more, and pick up a few more assists along the way, given that his linemate Russell has struggled to find the back of the net so far this season. After back-to-back seasons with a shooting percentage of 12.7 percent, he has just one goal on 31 shots this season. With the way that line creates offense, his goals will come, and Martone will likely be involved.

Up next for Michigan State is another Big Ten series, this time at home against the visiting Wisconsin Badgers next Friday and Saturday night.

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