| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| PRIN | Quin Pompi (1) Kuffner (5), Siiro (3) |
3 | 5:46 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
PRIN
Eric Robinson (6)
Hallisey (6)
3
7:31
PSU
Tommy Olczyk (6) -- ENG
Kerr (7)
3
19:02
PSU
Curtis Loik (5) -- ENG
Unassisted
3
19:37
| ||||||||||
| PSU |
Matthew Skoff (W, 4-1-3) |
60:00
|
3 |
22 |
||||||
Dec. 11, 2015
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The 16th-ranked Penn State men's hockey team withstood a furious Princeton comeback in a 6-3 victory Friday night at Pegula Ice Arena in front of 6,141 fans. Fifth-year senior Tommy Olczyk (Long Grove, Ill.) recorded Penn State's third hat trick in program history and his first multi-goal game of his collegiate career.
"It is unbelievably fun to see Tommy Olczyk score a hat trick," head coach Guy Gadowsky said after his 50th Penn State. "It was just so cool. It was so fitting, so cool and so fun to watch. Obviously for just so many reasons, he has meant so much to the program since day one, so it is so much fun to watch him do that."
Penn State (11-2-3, 2-0-0-0 Big Ten) enters the winter break on a program-best nine-game unbeaten streak by defeating Princeton (4-9-0, 3-5-0 ECAC Hockey) in the teams' first meeting in men's hockey.
The Nittany Lions used a pair of power-play goals by Olczyk and Chase Berger (St. Louis, Mo.) and a David Glen (Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta) short-handed tally to stake a 4-0 lead through two periods. That lead would quickly be cut down to one as Princeton scored three goals in 3:17 early in the third period.
Olczyk's empty-netter with 58 seconds left added insurance, as did another empty-net goal 25 seconds later by Curtis Loik (North Vancouver, British Columbia) sealed PSU's 11th win in 16 games.
Olczyk opened the proceedings by deflecting an Erik Autio (Espoo, Finland) shot from the left point after only 4:19. Just two minutes later, Olczyk was again in front of the net to deflect home a shot, this time from Autio's defensive partner, Vince Pedrie (Rochester, Minn.) on the power play to double the lead.
In the second period, Princeton forced the pace of play, forcing starter Matthew Skoff (McKees Rocks, Pa.) into several quality saves. Skoff ended the game with 22 stops in his seventh-straight unbeaten decision, improving to 4-1-3.
Despite the Princeton pressure, Penn State pounced on another Tiger penalty. Berger skated behind the Princeton cage to strip a Tiger defenseman of the puck to the right of Colton Phinney (39 saves), sliding the puck in for his 10th goal of the season and his third power-play tally. Berger trails only North Dakota's Brock Boeser, the 23rd pick in the 2015 NHL Draft, for the freshman scoring lead. Boeser has 12 goals.
Momentum had its first chance to shift when Kenny Brooks (Las Vegas, Nev.) was assessed a five-minute major penalty for a check from behind with 5:21 left in the second period.
Penn State's excellent penalty kill required two tremendous saves by Skoff before Glen scored his short-handed goal for a 4-0 lead in the period's final minute. Glen took a Princeton turnover in the neutral zone in on a 2-on-1 break and fired the puck over Phinney's left shoulder.
The third period was all Princeton in the early going. The Tigers received two goals from Eric Robinson, which came on either side of a Quin Pompi goal, for a three-tally flurry in three-plus minutes. With the game at 4-3 with 12:29 left, Gadowsky called timeout to settle down his Nittany Lions.
The highlight of the night came when Olczyk was able to track down a Kevin Kerr (Bensalem, Pa.) clearance, beat a Princeton defenseman and score his third goal of the night. Only 35 seconds later, Loik tallied his fifth of the season, taking a Princeton faceoff win in Penn State's defensive zone and flinging it down the length of the ice for the sixth and final goal of the night.
Penn State out-shot Princeton, 45-25 and went 2-for-3 on the power play, while Princeton was 0-for-3 during its nine minutes of power play time, only registering four shots.
NITTANY NOTES
Princeton allowed two power-play goals in the same game for the first time this season. The Tigers entered the game with the nation's fourth-rated penalty kill at 90 percent.
With the win, Penn State set a program record with its ninth-straight unbeaten game.
Tommy Olczyk's hat trick is the third in Penn State program history and the first since Casey Bailey completed the feat in the third period vs. Ohio State on Jan. 9, 2015.
Penn State has 12 multi-goal games by individuals, the most in NCAA Division I men's hockey.
The Nittany Lions recorded multiple empty-net goals for the first time in program history.
David Glen's short-handed goal was Penn State's fifth of the season and his first since Dec. 1, 2013 vs. Union. All five short-handed goals have been scored by different Nittany Lions. Glen's goal was also the game-winner, his first of the season and third of his career (first since Feb. 8, 2013 vs. Alabama Huntsville).
The three goals conceded by Penn State are the most given up since a 4-2 loss vs. St. Lawrence on Oct. 30.
Matthew Skoff is 4-0-3 in his last seven starts after dropping his opening game of the season. Skoff has a .929 save percentage and a 1.93 GAA in those six games.
Penn State notched its fourth straight victory while ranked after going 0-4-0 last year.
The Nittany Lions are 8-0-1 when scoring first this season, 11-0-0 when leading after two periods and 9-2-2 when tallying a power-play goal.
Guy Gadowsky picked up his first win over a former team of his. Last season, PSU fell at Alaska, 4-3. Gadowsky spent five years at Alaska and seven seasons at Princeton.
Penn State played in front of its 44th sellout in 47 regular-season games at Pegula Ice Arena. The Nittany Lions have played in front of 24 straight home sellouts over the past two seasons. Penn State is 21-4-4 at Pegula Ice Arena the past two seasons and 12-2-3 against non-conference foes during that time.
NEXT TIME OUT
Penn State will have a 17-day break between games before taking on Robert Morris in the fourth annual Third Rivers Classic in Pittsburgh. The game, which will be played at CONSOL Energy Center, will take place on Monday, Dec. 28 at 7:30 p.m. A second game against either UMass Lowell or Clarkson will take place Tuesday, Dec. 29.