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Dec. 28, 2015
PITTSBURGH, Pa. -- The No. 15 Nittany Lion men's hockey team dropped a 6-4 decision to Robert Morris in the Three Rivers Classic at CONSOL Energy Center on Monday night. Eric Scheid (Blaine, Minn.), Luke Juha (Mississagua, Ontario), Curtis Loik (North Vancouver, British Columbia) and Dylan Richard (Sherwood Park, Alberta) each scored goals in the loss.
Penn State (11-3-3, 2-0-0-0 Big Ten) was denied its 10th straight unbeaten contest by a precise Robert Morris (10-4-3, 8-3-3 AHC) that took advantage of PSU miscues for its fourth win in the teams' last six meetings.
RMU raced out to a 4-1 lead despite getting out-shot 39-20 by the Nittany Lions through two periods. Penn State cut the lead to a single goal in the third before RMU bounced back with two straight tallies en route to the victory. RMU's Terry Shafer had 52 saves in the win, while Eamon McAdam (Perkasie, Pa.) made 27 stops.
Penn State took the first seven shots of the game, but the Colonials would strike on their first shot of the game as Daniel Leavens collected a puck behind McAdam's net and flicked a shot off the netminder and into the net for the early lead after only 3:57 of action.
Penn State would continue to mount pressure on Shafer's net, ultimately putting 21 shots on frame. PSU had five shots during its power play opportunity, while PSU's defense held firm by allowing just seven shots and fending off the Colonials' potent power play.
In the second period, the Nittany Lions once again had to kill off a penalty as all four skaters touched the puck leading to Scheid's first short-handed goal of the season.
At PSU's blue line, Erik Autio (Espoo, Finland) went left wing to right wing with a pass for Juha, as his pass up the boards found Richard. Richard's cross-ice pass to Scheid atop the left circle led to the redshirt-senior's second career short-handed goal and tied the game, 1-1, with 17:30 left in the period.
The short-handed goal was the sixth of the season for Penn State, which has the nation's lead with Nebraska Omaha. All six tallies have come from different Nittany Lions.
Shortly after Scheid's goal, Penn State was called for another penalty that led to a brief 5-on-3 chance for the Colonials. When the first penalty expired, Tyson Wilson bagged his second goal of the year from Alex Tonge to regain the 2-1 lead.
Robert Morris would double its lead when a scramble in front of McAdam's net led to Spencer Dorowicz's third goal this season with 12:54 remaining in the period. Brandon Denham's chance in front was stopped by McAdam and Dorowicz was quick to put the puck away.
Penn State had a power play chance only 30 seconds later, but was unable to cash in. Five minutes after that Penn State and RMU took minor penalties 17 seconds apart setting up a frantic 90 seconds of 4-on-4 that ultimately resulted in Denham scoring on a breakaway goal with 5:17 left in the 2nd.
Penn State continued to put pressure on Shafer's net as the senior netminder made several acrobatic saves including one on his back with two minutes remaining in the period. The Nittany Lions out-shot Robert Morris, 18-13 for the second period.
In the third period, Penn State used a Juha bullet from the right point less than five minutes into the frame to make it a 4-2 RMU lead. Chase Berger (St. Louis, Mo.) provided a screen in front of Shafer after Kevin Kerr's (Bensalem, Pa.) point-to-point pass set up Juha's blast, his third of the year.
Loik made it a one-goal game with 8:03 remaining as he snuck a shot from the right circle off the post and in. His sixth of the ear was assisted by David Thompson (Glen Mills, Pa.) and Kenny Brooks (Las Vegas, Nev.).
The Colonials struck just 62 seconds later as another odd-man rush allowed Zac Lynch to fly in and dive for his 13th goal of the season on Greg Gibson's saved shot for a 5-3 lead. RMU stretched the lead to three on Gibson's empty-netter with 2:23 remaining before Richard scored a consolation goal with 22 seconds remaining.
NITTANY NOTES
• Penn State fell to 2-4-0 all-time against Robert Morris and has now lost four straight games in the Three Rivers Classic.
• Eric Scheid's short-handed goal was Penn State's sixth of the season and second in as many games. All six short-handed goals have been scored by different Nittany Lions. Scheid's last short-handed goal came Jan. 24, 2015 vs. Northern Michigan.
• The six goals conceded by Penn State were the second most since a 7-4 loss to Notre Dame (Oct. 16, 2015).
• All 18 skaters fired a shot for the Nittany Lions on Monday night with Curtis Loik and Kenny Brooks leading the way with eight attempts. Eric Scheid had seven.
• Penn State has out-shot its opponent in all 17 games this season. PSU fired 50+ shots for the fifth time this season, and dropping a game for the first time when putting at least 50 shots on goal. PSU leads Division I men's hockey with 45.53 shots per game.
• The Nittany Lions fell to 2-5-0 at the Three Rivers Classic, having dropped the past four games.
NEXT TIME OUT
Penn State wraps up the fourth annual Three Rivers Classic on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. vs. Clarkson in the Consolation Game. PSU and Clarkson will meet for the first time in hockey.