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ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The No. 14 Penn State men's hockey team contained the nation's most potent offense for two periods, but No. 9 Michigan erupted in the third period en route to a 7-1 victory Friday night at Yost Ice Arena. Andrew Sturtz (Buffalo, N.Y.) matched a program record by scoring in his fourth straight game.
Penn State (20-11-5, 10-8-1-1 Big Ten) fired the opening salvo just 2:25 into the game when David Glen (Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta) fired a shot from the right faceoff circle that deflected off Sturtz's leg and past Steve Racine (35 saves).
The play was set up by a win behind the net by David Goodwin (Des Peres, Mo.) as he played along the right halfboards to Luke Juha (Mississauga, Ontario) who pinched in and sent the puck back towards Goodwin. The team's leading point scorer dished an inch-perfect pass to Glen who got the shot off.
Sturtz matched linemate Goodwin's four-goal scoring streak for a program record, which was set in January of 2015. Sturtz has 26 points this season, which puts him one shy of the program record for points scored by a freshman (Casey Bailey had 25 in 2012-13).
An entertaining period continued with tremendous back-and-forth play by both teams as both goaltenders kept their respective high-powered opponent offenses at bay. Penn State's penalty kill was effective during back-to-back kills, allowing one harmless shot from distance in four minutes of Michigan's advantage.
The Wolverines finally lit the lamp with 4:46 remaining as a PSU turnover allowed JT Compher to find Kyle Connor in front of the net and the freshman beat Eamon McAdam (Perkasie, Pa.) stickside to even the score. U-M had a 10-8 advantage in shots.
In the second, the Wolverines took the lead when another PSU giveaway allowed Tony Calderone to score on a breakaway after 5:38 from Cooper Marody. The Nittany Lions would out-play Michigan for most of the period, owning a 16-13 shot advantage and taking 11 of the final 14 shots in the frame.
A late minor penalty committed by Penn State in the second allowed Michigan 1:53 to work with to open the third period. Four straight passes led to Connor's 28th of the season, scored from the right wing on a cross-ice pass from Compher for a 3-1 advantage with 19:30 remaining.
Less than three minutes later, Justin Selman made it 4-1 on the power play, scoring in transition off a Marody feed from the blue line. The lead grew to 5-1 on a Boo Nieves goal with 13:44 remaining, chasing McAdam from the game in favor of Chris Funkey (Orland Park, Ill.).
Funkey, who had been unblemished through the first 57 minutes of his collegiate career, conceded a short-handed goal to Selman with 12:51 remaining, initially stopping Selman's first attempt before the Wolverine swatted the puck out of the air and in.
Max Shuart scored the final goal, a power-play tally with 4:07 remaining. Funkey finished with 11 saves. Michigan went 3-for-6 on the man-advantage, which included a perfect 3-for-3 effort. Penn State was 0-for-5 on the power play.
NITTANY NOTES
- For the second straight game, Penn State lost when scoring the game's first goal. PSU dropped to 16-2-2 in such instances.
- The Nittany Lions dropped their third straight to the Wolverines. The series is even at 6-6-0 all-time.
- Andrew Sturtz scored in his career-high fourth straight game, matching the program record set by David Goodwin in January 2015. Sturtz has a five-game point streak (4-3-7).
- David Goodwin tallied his 34th point on Friday night, which matches a career-high for a single-season set last year. He is the only Nittany Lion in program history to have two 30-point seasons.
- Penn State was held to one goal for the sixth time this season and the first time since Feb. 5 at Minnesota.
- Penn State is assured of finishing third in the Big Ten and will play Wisconsin in the Big Ten Quarterfinals on Thursday, March 17 in St. Paul, Minnesota.
NEXT TIME OUT
Penn State continues caps its regular season on Saturday with a 7:30 p.m. contest against Michigan. That game will be shown on Comcast Network 900 in Michigan with streaming through BTN2Go for cable customers that receive BTN. The game can also be heard live on the Penn State Sports Network and through GoPSUnow for streaming audio.