| 3 | 2 |
| Pegula Ice Arena | University Park, Pa. | 5,773 | |
| STATISTICS | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Oct. 30, 2014
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Penn State men's hockey used two-point nights from linemates David Goodwin (Des Peres, Mo.) and Casey Bailey (Anchorage, Alaska) to defeat Bentley, 3-2, in front of 5,773 fans Thursday night at Pegula Ice Arena.
Fellow linemate Taylor Holstrom (Yorba Linda, Calif.) contributed to both goals with his team-leading seventh and eighth assists. Holstrom became the first Nittany Lion to reach the 10-point mark this season. Curtis Loik (North Vancouver, British Columbia) scored a power-play goal late in the first period for the Nittany Lions, who won their third straight game.
"All three of them have worked extremely hard and I really think that's the difference," said head coach Guy Gadowsky. "All three have shown high levels of skill and they have a high hockey IQ. The line has synergy right now."
Penn State (4-1-2) started slowly, losing the opening four faceoffs of the game and falling behind early. Bentley (3-3-0) came out and scored on its first power play opportunity as Matt Maher fired from the point and the puck floated through traffic and into the back of the net with 13:20 left in the first period.
The Nittany Lions would equalize with 6:19 remaining as Bailey pushed home a right-post rebound from Holstrom. Goodwin fed the Californian in front of the cage from the right corner to even the score at one.
With 2:57 to go in the first period, Patrick Koudys (Smithville, Ontario) ripped a shot from the point on the power play that was deflected in by Loik to stake a 2-1 lead. Koudys's effort was aided by an Erik Autio (Espoo, Finland) point-to-point feed, his second assist of the year.
Koudys also earned his second helper of the season in his 101st collegiate appearance. Loik now leads the team with two power play goals.
The Nittany Lions continued the pressure on the Falcons in the second period. After out-shooting Bentley, 18-8, Penn State went on to out-shoot the Falcons, 20-8, in the second. PSU eventually cashed in when Goodwin sent home a dribbler in front of the net for his third goal of the year. Holstrom again played a puck in front of net that was nearly put in by Bailey, but his trap allowed Goodwin to put it away.
Penn State has out-scored its opponents, 13-3, in the second period this year.
The third period saw multiple chances go awry, but it was another Bentley power-play that allowed the Falcons to sneak closer. Off a faceoff win, Matt Blomquist swung the puck from right to left, finding Steve Weinstein on the left point. Weinstein drove down the boards below the goal line and found Max French who put his fourth goal of the season away with 16:07 remaining. Bentley went 2-for-4 in power plays.
The third period was Bentley's most dangerous, getting 10 pucks on goal, but nine of them were turned aside by Matthew Skoff (McKees Rock, Pa.). Skoff saved 24 shots in the game in his seventh straight start.
Skoff's counterpart, Gabe Antoni, made 51 saves on the night as Penn State out-shot Bentley, 54-26. PSU went 1-for-3 on the power play and had 12 blocks to Bentley's 16. Koudys led all Lions with five blocked shots. Connor Varley (Lansdale, Pa.) had three blocked shots.
At the faceoff dot, Penn State went 42-33, led by Holstrom and Max Gardiner (Deephaven, Minn.) who went 13-2 and 13-5, respectively.
NEXT TIME OUT
The Penn State-Bentley series concludes Friday at 7 p.m. in the final home game of the semester for the Nittany Lions. Penn State is 4-0-1 at Pegula Ice Arena this season.