COLUMBUS, Ohio-- The No. 7 Ohio State Buckeyes (20-9-5, 13-7-4-3 Big Ten) fell to the Michigan State Spartans (12-17-5, 8-12-4-2 Big Ten) by the score of 3-2 in game two of a two-game weekend series at the Schottenstein Center Saturday night, splitting the weekend series and the season series against the Spartans.

After shutting down Michigan State's most prolific line of junior forwards Taro Hirose, Patrick Khodorenko and sophomore forward Mitchell Lewandowski with a combined no points, four shots on goal and a plus-minus of minus-9, the "KHL" line feasted on the Buckeyes Saturday night with goals from Lewandowski and Khodorenko and an assist from the NCAA leading scorer in Hirose. Ohio State junior forward Tanner Laczynski led the way for the Buckeyes in the defeat with a goal and an assist in a two-point effort

Michigan State junior goaltender John Lethemon outshined Ohio State redshirt senior goaltender Sean Romeo making 32 saves on 34 shots, while Romeo made 22 saves on 25 shots in the regular season home finale for the Buckeyes in the defeat.

Saturday night marked the last regular season game for eight seniors including Romeo as well as forwards Dakota Joshua, John Wiitala, Brendon Kearney, Freddy Gerard, and co-captain Mason Jobst. Also, a few on the backend with defensemen Tommy Parran and co-captain Sasha Larcoque.

There was not a lot of notable action in the first period between the Buckeyes and Spartans with each team failing to score on their only opportunity on the power play along with Romeo and Lethemon staying strong between the pipes when tested headed to the second period.

Shots at the end of the opening frame held a narrow advantage for the visiting Spartans at 11-10.

With 5:41 into the second period, Jobst was assessed a tripping penalty and the Spartans made the Buckeyes pay just 11 seconds later when Khodorenko gathered the puck in the high slot and floated a wrist shot through traffic and past Romeo to give the Spartans a 1-0 lead.

Ohio State answered with a power-play goal of its own when freshman forward Quinn Preston completed a cross-ice pass to streaking redshirt junior defenseman Wyatt Ege who snapped a shot from the right dot past the glove hand of Lethemon for his second goal of the season tying the game with 9:23 left in the second period.

The second period concluded with each team registering a power-play goal and six shots bringing the score tied to one and shot total at 17-16 with a slight advantage to the visiting Spartans.

Just 1:02 into the third period, the Spartans regained the lead when Lewandowski pounced on a rebound for his 16th goal of the season and second in goals on Michigan State only behind Khodorenko.

Michigan State grabbed another goal to double its lead 8:48 into the third period when sophomore forward Brody Stevens toe-dragged around a Buckeye forward and ripped a laser of a shot past Romeo to put the score at 3-1.

With just 2:47 left to play in regulation and with Romeo off for the extra attacker, the Buckeyes pulled to within a goal off the stick of Laczynksi with the help of an excellent blind backhand pass from junior forward Ronnie Hein to give the Buckeyes a chance to tie the game in the final minutes.

Despite a flurry of chances around the Spartan net with a 6-on-5 advantage for Ohio State, the Buckeyes couldn't find the equalizer and fell to Michigan State 3-2 splitting the weekend and the season series.

The Buckeyes blitzed the Spartans in shots in the third period with a total of 18-8 as well as held the total through the end of the game with an advantage of 34-25.

With the regular season wrapped up, Ohio State will look towards postseason play in the Big Ten Tournament and with locking down No. 1 seed, the Buckeyes will enjoy a bye week before hosting the semifinal at the Schottenstein Center against the lowest seed to advance out of quarterfinals in a single-elimination game on March 17.