EAST LANSING – Michigan State coach Danton Cole said he thought his team chased the game too much against 14th-ranked Michigan on Friday. Too many turnovers, and maybe a little too much emotion early on.

Luckily for him, his freshman goaltender played the best game of his career.

"I've had shutouts and stuff, won a few tournaments and awards and whatnot," said Drew DeRidder, MSU's soft-spoken goaltender. "But getting this win against a rival in my first time as a Spartan and stopping that many shots, it means the world to me."

DeRidder stopped 43 of U-M's 46 shots, letting in two goals off deflections and another in a mad scramble in front of the net, but held off the Wolverines late in a 4-3 victory.

After stopping three shots in the final minute from U-M's top three players – leading goal scorer Josh Norris, junior forward Will Lockwood and sophomore defenseman Quinn Hughes – DeRidder jumped up and down after the clock ran out as his teammates mobbed him in front of the net.

In front of a sold-out Munn Arena, the players skated around the ice after singing the alma mater, banging the glass in appreciation to the fans.

"The atmosphere was unreal, and getting to skate around and show the fans love, especially in my last home game against those guys, it was incredible," said senior forward Cody Milan. "The student section, the white-out, it was unreal."

Emotions ran high for most of the game, with nearly every stoppage in play resulting in altercations. Norris and MSU junior Patrick Khodorenko took offsetting penalties for roughing. MSU defenseman Jerad Rosburg played the role of enforcer to just about anyone who came his way.

"If they had maize on, they were gonna hear it from me," Rosburg said.

MSU won the face-off battle 42-32, which helped generate some offensive chances and limit the ability for the Wolverines – in particular, their star Hughes – to get out in transition.

"They (U-M) are a pretty good face-off team, and our centers did really really good tonight," Cole said. "It's important, it's less time for them with the puck and even when we lost some of them, we delayed it long enough to cut down the chance for a big break."

Michigan scored just 3:04 into the game on a deflection off a Norris shot. MSU answered late in the first when forward Tommy Apap found Rosburg at the point, and his shot was tipped by forward Brody Stevens, who got his fourth goal of the season.

The Wolverines started fast again in the second period when Jack Becker scored on a deflection in front at the 1:46 mark. MSU responded again when Tommy Miller scored his first career goal less than seven minutes later.

MSU opened up the third period on the power play, where Milan was able to tip a shot from junior forward Taro Hirose, and the puck trickled through the legs of U-M goaltender Hayden Lavigne.

Michigan answered just 1:22 later, when a scramble in front saw the puck squirt out to junior center Nick Pastujov, who buried his eighth goal of the season.

MSU got a three-on-two break midway through the third, led by sophomore forward Mitch Lewandowski. He sent a pass to Hirose, who cut inside and swiftly sent it back to Lewandowski, who tucked the feed past Lavigne.

"It's always a battle and it's always fun playing against Michigan," Lewandowski said. "I'm happy we were able to get the win tonight and that I did my part to contribute to that, but we just got to keep it up for tomorrow."

From that point on, DeRidder had to be at his best against the all-out barrage the Wolverines sent his way in the final half of the third period.

Hirose had three assists – his second straight three-point game – bringing his season point total to 22. Lewandowski had an assist along with his goal, and senior defenseman Zach Osburn led the Spartans with five shots on goal.

Hughes tallied three assists for Michigan, while Becker had an assist in addition to his goal. Norris and Pastujov each got seven shots on target, while Lockwood had six.

MSU travels to Ann Arbor for the series finale at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Yost Arena.

Contact Nathaniel Bott via email at nbott@lsj.com and follow him on Twitter @Nathaniel_Bott.

MORE MICHIGAN STATE HOCKEY: