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EAST LANSING, Mich. -- The Penn State men's hockey team was unable to pull off the sweep at Munn Ice Arena, but earned five of the six points over the weekend with a shootout win after a 2-2 tie with Michigan State in front of 6,011 fans.
Eamon McAdam (Perkasie, Pa.) made 34 saves and had an assist, his NCAA leading third of the year, while Eric Scheid (Blaine, Minn.) and Luke Juha (Mississauga, Ontario) tallied goals. Juha's tally came with 5:27 remaining to even the score before Penn State had to kill off a 5-on-3 power play to close regulation.
Ricky DeRosa (Aston, Pa.) scored in the second round of the shootout and McAdam stopped Cody Milan on MSU's third attempt to earn the extra point for Penn State (18-8-4, 8-5-1-1 Big Ten). Michigan State (7-20-3, 3-10-1-0 Big Ten) avoided the season sweep, but Penn State emerged with a 3-0-1 mark against the Spartans.
After Michigan State dominated the second period and held a 2-1 lead, Penn State forced the action the other way in search of the equalizer. The goal finally came when Juha followed up a scramble in front of Jake Hildebrand (35 saves) to poke home the his sixth of the season with assists going to David Goodwin (Des Peres, Mo.) and Scheid that was set up from behind by Alec Marsh (Bridgewater, N.J.).
Goodwin picked up his 20th assist on the play becoming the second Nittany Lion to tally 20 assists in a season (Taylor Holstrom, 2014-15).
Following the Juha tally, Michigan State earned a pair of power play chances including a 5-on-3 with 4:04 remaining. The Nittany Lions killed both chances off and fended off five of the six Michigan State power plays on the night. For the weekend PSU went 9-for-10 on the penalty kill. PSU earned a decisive 17-8 edge in the third period.
In overtime, neither team was able to gain much traction and the game went to a shootout for the game's third point, which Penn State earned.
Penn State picked up on Saturday where it left off on Friday as Scheid opened the scoring after only 3:13 of action. McAdam found Kevin Kerr (Bensalem, Pa.) behind the net as the puck found its way up the boards to Scheid. He rushed down the boards through the neutral zone and into the Michigan State zone, holding the puck until the last moment and firing a shot from just above the goal line that found just enough space to find the back of the net.
The goal was Scheid's 10th of the year and his fourth against the Spartans this year. Scheid has six goals against MSU in his career to lead all Nittany Lions. McAdam collected his third assist of the season, which leads all Division I men's hockey goaltenders. Michigan State went on to out-shoot Penn State, 12-11, in an evenly played period.
The second period belonged to the Spartans as they took the first nine shots of the frame and scored two goals. Meanwhile, Penn State played short-handed for five minutes of the second period as MSU cashed in on a power-play goal on its eighth chance this weekend.
After only 86 seconds, Matt DeBlouw found the back of the net from the right dot on a feed from JT Stenglein to even the score. It was DeBlow's fifth of the year. Stenglein would be the catalyst for MSU's second goal as he found Michael Ferrantino in front of the cage with the man-advantage and a 2-1 lead with 6:41 remaining. Michigan State held a 14-6 edge in shots for the period.
Shots ended 37-36 in favor of Penn State with both teams earning an even 35 faceoff wins. David Glen (Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta) led the Nittany Lions at the dot with a 13-9 record.
NITTANY NOTES
Penn State now trails in the series 6-5-3 to Michigan State after winning three straight games. PSU went 3-0-1 against the Spartans this season and is now 2-1 against MSU in shootouts all-time.
Eric Scheid scored his fourth goal of the season against Michigan State and his sixth overall, which leads all active Nittany Lions.
Eamon McAdam has tallied three assists this season and has notched all of them in his last five starts. He has four helpers for his career and is the only Nittany Lion netminder to record points.
Penn State skated with just 11 forwards on Saturday night due to various injuries. This is the fourth straight game PSU has skated with 11 forwards
NEXT TIME OUT
Penn State returns to Hockey Valley to close out its home slate against Ohio State. Friday night's game is set for a 6:30 opening faceoff on Big Ten Network with Saturday's game commencing at 3 p.m. on ESPNU.