EAST LANSING, Mich. – The Gophers hockey team hasn't won back-to-back games since winning three in a row to start November. Now it will have to wait until January for a chance to string together consecutive wins again.

In their final game before the holiday break, the Gophers twice rallied to earn a 3-3 tie with Michigan State on Saturday at Munn Ice Arena.

Although the game officially counts as a tie, the Spartans (5-9-1, 1-2-1 Big Ten) won the shootout 2-1 to earn an extra point in the Big Ten standings. In six meetings between the Gophers and Spartans since the Big Ten hockey league debuted last season, Michigan State has three shootout wins.

Gopher goalie Adam Wilcox, who shut out Michigan State 5-0 on Friday, was even better Saturday, making a career-high 42 saves, including 13 during a first period in which the Spartans had three power-play chances and outshot the Gophers 15-8.

"He made some really good saves tonight, especially in the first two periods when they controlled the play more than we did," Gophers coach Don Lucia said. "He gave us a chance to get a tie tonight."

Spartans forward Brett Darnell gave his team a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal 2:22 into the game.

"To start off the game taking three penalties in the first eight minutes, you're behind the 8-ball right away," said forward Connor Reilly, who scored two goals for the Gophers and added an assist.

The Gophers (9-4-1, 1-0-1) drew even with 6:21 left in the first period on Reilly's first goal.

Reilly's prowess with the one-timer led to the Gophers' second goal of the opening period and a 2-1 lead. He fired a shot from the far faceoff circle that teammate Kyle Rau tipped past MSU goalie Jake Hildebrand with 2:23 left in the first period.

"He's got a really good shot, and we want to try to utilize that," Lucia said of Reilly, who has four goals in the Gophers' past four games. "He's got a very good one-timer, and when he gets it on net, it's hard for a goaltender to handle."

The Gophers' lead was short-lived as Michigan State's Mackenzie MacEachern evened the score at 2-2 with 24 seconds left in the first period.

Michigan State scored the only goal during a fast-paced second period. Darnell notched his second goal to put the Spartans ahead 3-2 at the game's midway point.

Reilly tied the score a little more than two minutes into the third period on a play that was a mirror image of his first-period goal, a one-timer — this time from the far faceoff dot — during a Gophers' 4-on-3 power-play advantage.

Hildebrand made 21 saves for the Spartans, who outshot the Gophers 45-24.

"We do like the fact we battled back in the third period," Reilly said. "We played relentless hockey; we were on the puck, hunting pucks down. It's just too bad we didn't finish it out."

The Gophers are off until Jan. 2-3, when they host the Mariucci Classic. They'll play Merrimack in the tournament's opening round, then either UMass-Lowell or the Rochester Institute of Technology the following night.