| 5 | 4 |
| Pegula Ice Arena| University Park, Pa. | 6,203 | |
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Jan. 23, 2015
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- For the third straight Friday night at Pegula Ice Arena, Penn State men's hockey found itself down entering the third period and for the third straight time, the Nittany Lions tied the score. The third time was the charm as on this occasion, Penn State defeated Northern Michigan, 5-4, in front of a raucous 6,203 fans thanks to Scott Conway's (Basingstoke, England) late tally.
"What an amazing crowd, just an amazing student body," said head coach Guy Gadowsky. "I'll tell you what, we needed them tonight and they were very, very big. So, it goes down for us as a really great win. I thought, obviously being down 4-1, they came back, showed a lot of guts and a great win but I can tell you from a coaching staff perspective, we're at a bit of a loss. We're really getting frustrated with how we come out. It seems every time we play really well in the first we come out very, very flat in the second. We're obviously not doing the job to prepare or motivate as well as we can going into the second because it's happened numerous times now and it's getting a little frustrating but all in all, a big win."
Penn State (12-7-3, 5-2-1-0 Big Ten) gave up four straight goals to Northern Michigan (9-9-5, 6-8-4) in a 13-minute span in the second period to fall behind 4-1.
Casey Bailey (Anchorage, Alaska) pulled the Nittany Lions within two before the second intermission and Dylan Richard (Sherwood Park, Alberta) added a short-handed goal to kick start the comeback 3:34 into the third.
Fellow Albertan David Glen (Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta) knotted the score on a redirected shot from David Thompson (Glen Mills, Pa.) with 5:40 remaining and Conway sent the fans home happy only 100 seconds later for the game-winner.
Senior goalie PJ Musico (Orange, Calif.) made 11 saves in relief without allowing a goal to pick up his first win this season.
Bailey's power-play goal was his 17th tally of the season and came after a four-goal barrage by the Wildcats. Glen slid the puck up the dasher to Luke Juha (Mississauga, Ontario) who allowed Bailey to skate behind him and set up the one-timer that jolted PSU to life.
On the penalty kill, Eric Scheid (Blaine, Minn.), who was arguably Penn State's best player on Friday night, blocked a shot at the blue line, collected the puck and raced toward the net. He was slashed from behind and his shot off Mathias Dahlstrom (48 saves) fell to Richard, who pulled PSU within one early in the third period. The goal was Richard's second of the game after earlier scoring on the power play just 72 seconds after dropping the puck.
It would take nearly 11 more minutes for Penn State to even the score as Curtis Loik (North Vancouver, British Columbia) played a short pass up the right boards to Thompson, whose one-timed blast was deflected in by Glen setting Pegula into hysterics just 5:40 shy of the third-period horn. Loik finished with two assists.
The Nittany Lions wasted little time in going for the go-ahead goal as Scheid received a pass from Richard, deked Dalhstrom on the left post but his shot was saved and fluttered to a pouncing Conway for the game-winning tally.
Penn State out-shot Northern Michigan 53-30 including a dominating 21-7 in the opening frame that yielded the lone Richard goal. NMU connected on four of its first 12 shots in the second period to claim a 4-1 advantage. Barrett Kaib had two goals while Sami Salminen added three points on a goal and two assists.
PSU went 2-for-6 on the power play, while the Wildcats were held scoreless, going 0-for-3. PSU had scored once in its previous 19 power play opportunities entering Friday night.
GAME NOTES
• The Nittany Lions are now 8-1-2 at Pegula Ice Arena overall and 6-0-1 against non-Big Ten teams in 2014-15.
• The Nittany Lions and Wildcats met for the first time Friday night.
• Penn State won its first game this season when allowing four goals or more (1-6-0).
• Penn State improved to 5-0-0 when scoring at least five goals.
• The Nittany Lions were plus-three in special teams situations, scoring twice on the power play, adding a short-handed goal and not allowing a power play goal.
• Richard's short-handed goal was Penn State's third of the year.
• Penn State fired 50 or more shots for the fifth time this season improving to 4-0-1.
• Friday's win was the first over a WCHA team this season. PSU tied Alaska Anchorage and fell to Alaska in October.
NEXT TIME OUT
Penn State and Northern Michigan return to Pegula Ice Arena on Saturday for a 4:30 p.m. matchup on Big Ten Network. PSU will wear special THON jerseys on the ice with a teddy bear toss during the second intermission.