March 12, 2016
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The short-handed No. 14 Penn State men's hockey team was unable to keep up with No. 9 Michigan in a 6-1 loss at Yost Ice Arena on Saturday night. Eric Scheid (Blaine, Minn.) tallied a first-period goal for the Nittany Lions
Penn State (20-12-5, 10-9-1-1 Big Ten), which started the night playing only 10 forwards and transitioned one of its forwards to the defensive corps, found it difficult to keep up with an offensive-minded Michigan (22-7-5, 12-5-3-2 Big Ten) side.
Kyle Connor opened the scoring just 6:27 into the game on a 2-on-1 break. Scheid answered back 89 seconds later, firing a puck from the right dashers that was deflected in by Michigan defenseman Joseph Cecconi to even the score.
Kenny Brooks (Las Vegas, Nev.), who transitioned to defense this weekend, won the puck behind Penn State's net to Chase Berger (St. Louis, Mo.). Berger found Scheid whose chip up the boards went off Curtis Loik's (North Vancouver, British Columbia) skate and found Scheid rushing into the zone. The goal was Scheid's 11th of the year. Loik earned his first 20-point season with the helper.
With 3:31 remaining, Michigan's Dexter Dancs won a battle along the boards and Max Shuart came out of the scrum with the puck, dashing through traffic and patiently depositing the puck for his fifth goal of the season. The Wolverines made it 3-1 with 1:12 left when Boo Nieves put away a loose puck off a pass from Justin Selman. Michigan held an 18-11 edge in shots.
The second period began poorly with Connor scoring the second of his night on Michigan's second power play chance after 6:18 of action. A major penalty less than a minute later gave Michigan a five-minute man-advantage where JT Compher put home a Tyler Motte offering for a 5-1 lead.
Eamon McAdam (Perkasie, Pa.) gave way to Matthew Skoff (McKees Rocks, Pa.) after stopping 23-of-28 Michigan shots on net. The Nittany Lions then killed off a 5-on-3 after another Autio minor and then the remainder of the major penalty without incident. Michigan out-shot Penn State 22-7 in the period with Skoff making 10 saves in the frame.
The third period opened with a Nieves goal after only 48 seconds for the final 6-1 score line. Skoff made 15 saves in the third for a game-total of 26 saves with one goal allowed in 32:13.
NITTANY NOTES
• The Nittany Lions dropped their fourth straight to the Wolverines. Michigan regained the series lead (7-6-0) for the first time since the teams' inaugural meeting in Feb. 2014.
• Andrew Sturtz has his career-high four-game goal streak and five-game point streak snapped.
• Penn State was held to one goal in back-to-back games for the first time this season.
• Penn State was out-shot 56-28. The 56 shots allowed are a program record, eclipsing the 53 allowed to Michigan on March 20, 2014 (2OT).
NEXT TIME OUT
Penn State, which clinched the No. 3 seed in next week's Big Ten Tournament in St. Paul, Minnesota, will face sixth-seeded Wisconsin on Thursday, March 17 at 5 p.m. ET. That game will be shown live on Big Ten Network.