| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The No. 15 Penn State men's hockey team completed the two-game sweep of Wisconsin on Saturday night by the score of 4-1 inside a soldout Pegula Ice Arena. Redshirt-senior Eric Scheid (Blaine, Minn.) had three points on two goals and an assist, while junior Eamon McAdam (Perkasie, Pa.) made 39 saves and registered his second career assist.
"It was really nice seeing Eric play well against Wisconsin where his dad played," Head coach Guy Gadowsky said of Scheid and his father, Jim. "That was pretty cool and very nice to see. I think we gave up a lot of odd-man rushes (in the second period) and Eamon had to make a lot of big saves...That was a big difference in the game and then you have a couple of big plays by Eric Scheid and that's the ball game."
Penn State (15-4-3, 5-1-0-0 Big Ten) never trailed in handing Wisconsin (4-10-6, 1-5-2-1 Big Ten) its first sweep of the season. The Nittany Lions captured their sixth straight win over the Badgers by scoring two goals in each the first and third periods.
Scheid notched his 16th career multi-point game by setting up Curtis Loik's (North Vancouver, British Columbia) opening power-play goal in the first period and sealing the win with a pair of special-teams goals in the third.
Scheid's performance was made all the more special with his family in the crowd and scoring against his father's team. Jim Scheid passed away this past August and Eric changed his number to 23 to honor his father's memory.
Andrew Sturtz (Buffalo, N.Y.) scored for the second time in as many nights to take the team lead in goals (11).
On the back end, McAdam returned to the lineup after missing his regularly scheduled start on Friday night with a lower-body injury suffered in a win over Minnesota last week. The junior was consistent all night, stopping at least 12 shots in each period and stopping numerous odd-man rushes. He also picked up his first assist of the season on Scheid's short-handed goal in the third.
McAdam played an important role in setting up Penn State's opening tally as he stopped Seamus Malone on a short-handed breakaway. Less than a minute later, Scheid broke into the zone and forced Matt Jurusik (37 saves) into a left pad save as Loik pounded the puck home for the 1-0 lead with 12:22 remaining.
Five minutes later, Sturtz collected a blocked David Goodwin (Des Peres, Mo.) shot, toe-dragged a defenseman and whipped a shot into the upper left corner over Jurusik's right shoulder for a 2-0 lead. The Nittany Lions led 2-0 after the opening period despite being out-shot 13-8.
The second period had 32 shots on net between the two teams and Kunin found the back of the net after 5:55 with his ninth of the year on the penalty kill. Kunin finished the game with 11 shots.
The third period belonged to Penn State, which looked for some insurance. Scheid was happy to oblige as he knocked home his sixth of the season while being knocked down on a 5-on-3 power play for a 3-1 lead with 12:52 remaining. Vince Pedrie (Rochester, Minn.) extended his point streak to four games by supplying the initial shot, while Erik Autio (Espoo, Finland) picked up his team-leading 12th assist by a defenseman.
As Penn State was salting the game away with less than four minutes to play, Wisconsin's power-play dumped the puck for a line change and an alert McAdam got the puck for David Thompson (Glen Mills, Pa.) who sent the puck off the boards to center ice to find Scheid skating all alone. Scheid beat Jurusik five-hole for his third short-handed goal of the year and Penn State's NCAA leading ninth. PSU leads in the category by three and Scheid is tied for second nationally.
Penn State finished 2-for-4 on the power play Saturday night, ending a streak of 13 scoreless man-advantages dating back to Dec. 29 vs. Clarkson. Penn State held Wisconsin scoreless on the power play four times and has now killed off 42 of its last 45 penalties.
NITTANY NOTES
• Penn State won its sixth straight game against Wisconsin to take the all-time series lead at 7-6-0. Penn State is 4-2-0 against the Badgers at Pegula Ice Arena. The six straight wins are the most for PSU against any opponent in varsity history.
• Penn State improved to 11-0-1 when scoring first, 9-0-0 when leading after the first period and 15-0-0 when leading after two periods.
• The Nittany Lions launched 41 shots on target, the 15th time this season Penn State has tallied at least 40 shots. PSU has out-shot every opponent but one (Minnesota).
• Penn State held its opponent to a goal or less for the seventh time this season.
• The Nittany Lions scored at least four goals in a game for the 15th time this season. Penn State is 13-2-0 when scoring 4+ goals.
• David Goodwin, who picked up his team-leading 15th assist on Sturtz's, now has 21 points this season to lead the squad.
• Eamon McAdam has tallied the only goaltender points in program history. His last assist came March 6, 2015 in a 6-4 win over Michigan.
• Penn State has 13 players with at least 12 points this season. Every skater that's appeared in more than one game has a point.
• Penn State played in front of its 48th sellout in 51 regular-season games at Pegula Ice Arena. The Nittany Lions have played in front of 28 straight home sellouts.
• PSU improved to to 11-3-1 at Pegula Ice Arena and is 24-5-4 in Pegula Ice Arena the past two seasons.
NEXT TIME OUT
Penn State hits the road for the first time in Big Ten play to take on Ohio State in Columbus. Both games are slated for 7 p.m. puck drops on Friday, Jan. 22 and Saturday, Jan. 23 with streaming coverage on BTN Plus. Penn State will have free streaming audio on GoPSUnow.