| 6 | 4 |
| Pegula Ice Arena | University Park, Pa. | 6,011 | |
| STATISTICS | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
March 6, 2015
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Penn State men's hockey had its offense rolling from the start in an entertaining 6-4 victory over Michigan Friday night at Pegula Ice Arena in front of 6,011 fans. Eric Scheid (Blaine, Minn.) had a game-high three points as the Nittany Lions raced out to a four-goal lead.
"(The early lead was) very big," head coach Guy Gadowsky said. "I thought we had a very good start; obviously it's huge. It's a big part of the game. We were able to jump up in front. I thought the fourth goal was huge and the fifth goal, Richard's goal, it was late in the (second) period. I thought it was big, even though we were up, I felt (Michigan) coming."
Penn State's (17-12-4, 9-7-1-0 Big Ten) victory effectively dropped Michigan (19-12-0, 11-6-0-0) from its perch atop the Big Ten standings. Friday's win was the second over the conference leader for the Nittany Lions after taking down Minnesota two weeks ago.
The Lions broke the game open with three goals in the game's opening 11 minutes. Scheid had a one-man scoring play 3:13 into the contest, chasing in his own chipped puck, beating a pair of Michigan defensemen to the boards, wheeling around the goal and firing his 14th of the season. Linemates Dylan Richard (Sherwood Park, Alberta) and Scott Conway (Basingstoke, England) picked up assists on the play.
Penn State's high-tempo offense continued with another even-strength goal off the stick of David Goodwin (Des Peres, Mo.) four and a half minutes later to double the lead. Nate Jensen (Shorewood, Minn.) won the puck on the left boards to Tommy Olczyk (Long Grove, Ill.) who played a perfectly placed pass to Goodwin skating down the right wing as the sophomore made no mistake on his 14th goal of the year.
The Nittany Lions would make it 3-0 on its their first power play opportunity as Casey Bailey (Anchorage, Alaska) rocketed his Big Ten-leading 22nd of the season from the left point with less than 11 minutes to play in the first. Michigan's JT Compher failed to clear the puck out of the zone as Bailey met it at the blue line before he took a stride toward net, blasting the puck into the top left corner of the goal.
Penn State held a 3-0 lead over Michigan through 20 minutes despite being out-shot 16-12. Eamon McAdam (Perkasie, Pa.) made all 16 stops for the Nittany Lions in his first start since Jan. 24. McAdam finished with 41 saves, his second 40+ save outing and one off his career high of 42 (Jan. 12, 2014 vs. Minnesota).
The second period started in similar fashion to the first as the Nittany Lions scored 3:48 into the frame on Conway's ninth of the season. Scheid sent a puck up the boards that fluttered in space between Erik Autio (Espoo, Finland) and a Michigan penalty killer, but Autio won the puck. He slid a well-timed pass to Conway who dinged his shot off the post for the 4-0 lead.
The Wolverines and their nation-leading offense would finally get on the board nearly five minutes later as Andrew Copp potted a power-play goal from Nolan De Jong. Eight minutes later, Justin Selman tallied on the power play to make it 4-2.
Penn State scored a crucial goal with just 31.1 seconds remaining as Richard put home Scheid's second assist of the night to restore the three-goal lead going into the second intermission. For Richard, it was his third try on a 2-on-1, failing to connect on the previous two, but registering his eighth of the season as the Nittany Lions hit the five-goal plateau for the eighth time this season.
Early in the third, Michigan came out firing as freshman Dylan Larkin's 13th of the season made it 5-3, assisted by the Big Ten's leading assist-man in Dylan Larkin (29).
The Nittany Lions would respond in kind with their third power play of the night to again regain the three-goal cushion. Jensen carried the puck from behind his net through the neutral zone and laid a pass off to David Glen (Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta) on the left wing, but his tight-angled shot was saved by Steve Racine (37 saves). The rebound bounced to the right post where Jensen swatted it out of the air for his second tally of the season and a 6-3 advantage. McAdam collected the first goaltender point in Penn State program history on the play.
Penn State would attempt to kill off the game with a sustained possession of the puck late in the third. During a five-minute sequence from 7:30 until 2:08, the play never stopped and Penn State was able to change twice while having the puck in Michigan's zone. The Wolverines would get one back with only 15 seconds remaining on a Cutler Martin tally from the left point for the final 6-4 score line.
Penn State received goals from six different players as 11 Nittany Lions registered a point. Scheid led the team with three points, while line mates Richard and Conway each potted two and Jensen chipped in with two. For Jensen, it was his first multi-point game since Oct. 17, 2014 vs. Alaska Anchorage.
The line of Conway-Richard-Scheid had three goals, four assists and a plus-five rating.
PSU went 3-for-4 on the power play, scoring three times with the man advantage for the first time this season. The last three-goal game on the power play was Nov. 1, 2013 at Robert Morris (3-for-7). As for Michigan, the Wolverines went 2-for-7 as PSU allowed a power play goal for the six straight game.
The Nittany Lions improved to 5-3-0 all-time against Michigan including a 2-1-0 mark this season. The win moved Penn State within five points of first place, which is now held by Michigan and Minnesota at 33 points apiece. Michigan State sits in third with 31, followed by PSU at 28. The Lions are assured of finishing no lower than fourth this season.
Penn State blocked 20 Wolverine shots led by David Thompson's (Glen Mills, Pa.) six. All but four skaters blocked a shot for Penn State.
Scott Conway led PSU's faceoff game with a 19-6 record as the Lions earned 41 wins at the dot as opposed to Michigan's 37. In the third period alone, Penn State out-drew Michigan 19-8 with Conway going 8-1 and Glen going 7-2.
GAME NOTES
• Penn State improved to 12-2-3 at Pegula Ice Arena. The Nittany Lions have yet to be swept at home this season. Penn State sold out Pegula Ice Arena for the 16th time this season.
• Penn State improved to 13-2-1 when leading after two periods and 7-0-1 when scoring five or more goals.
• The last time Penn State had six different goal scorers was Oct. 26, 2014 against Holy Cross (W, 7-1).
• Scheid collected his fifth multi-point game, tying his career-high in points, while Conway earned mult-point game No. 7 and Richard his third such game.
• Penn State snapped Michigan's three-game winning streak and prevented the Wolverines from attaining a 20-win season thus far.
• Conway's registered his first three-point game of his career. His career-high was a four-point outing vs. Holy Cross on Oct. 26, 2014
• Scheid produced two assists for the fourth time this season, all of which have come since Jan. 24.
• Assists by Glen and Autio gave them double-digit point scoring, becoming the 11th and 12th Nittany Lions to reach the plateau this season. Richard also crested the 20-point plateau, becoming the sixth Nittany Lion to do so.
• McAdam moved to 2-1-0 against the Wolverines.
NEXT TIME OUT
Penn State closes out its home schedule with a 3 p.m. rematch with Michigan. The Nittany Lions will honor a seven-member senior class beginning at 2:40 p.m.