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| WIS |
Grant Besse (11) Wittchow (7) |
3 | 3:26 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
PSU
Eric Scheid (13) -- ENG
Goodwin (25), Juha (16)
3
19:16
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ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The third-seeded Penn State men's hockey bounced sixth-seeded Wisconsin, 5-2, in the opening game of the Big Ten Tournament on Thursday evening at Xcel Energy Center. Eric Scheid (Blaine, Minn.) scored twice and Luke Juha (Mississauga, Ontario) had a career-high three assists and a plus-three rating to lead the Nittany Lions.
Penn State (21-12-4) snapped a three-game winning streak by scoring twice late in the first period. The lead grew to 4-1 after two periods and an empty netter provided the final score line. Eamon McAdam (Perkasie, Pa.) earned his 13th win by making 35 saves.
The Nittany Lions move on to play second-seeded Michigan at Xcel Energy Center on Friday at 5 p.m. ET. That game will be shown live on Big Ten Network and BTN2Go.
Joining Scheid and Juha with their multi-point games were David Goodwin (Des Peres, Mo.) with a pair of assists, Ricky DeRosa (Aston, Pa.) on a goal and an assist and Tommy Olczyk (Long Grove, Ill.) who matched DeRosa's line. Scheid now has a team-leading seven goals against the Badgers.
The Nittany Lions opened the scoring with 7:55 remaining when Juha lifted a puck over the Wisconsin (8-19-8) defense to a rushing Scheid who skated in alone and scored his 12th of the year.
Penn State doubled the lead four minutes later when Connor Varley (Lansdale, Pa.) had his shot from the left point deflect off a Badger stick and get past Matt Jurusik (24 saves) for his first goal since Dec. 29, 2015 vs. Clarkson. Scheid took a Goodwin faceoff win to send it back to Varley for the one-timer.
In the second, Luke Kunin scored his 19th of the year on a delayed penalty as he parked himself in front of the net to accept a Cameron Hughes offering 3:49 into the frame.
Ten minutes later, DeRosa responded by accepting a Juha feed as he entered he zone and DeRosa's snapshot went off Badger defenseman Tim Davison's stick and in for a 3-1 lead with 6:42 to go. The goal was DeRosa's sixth of the year and first since Jan. 30 vs. Michigan. Additionally, it was his team-leading fourth game-winning goal.
Olczyk's goal came 95 seconds later as DeRosa forced a Wisconsin turnover near center ice and Olczyk went in for a breakaway and tallied his 11th goal of the year for a 4-1 advantage. For Olczyk, it was his sixth goal all-time against the Badgers.
Wisconsin showed urgency in the third period and pressed the Nittany Lions until they grabbed a goal through Grant Besse with 16:34 remaining to cut the lead to 4-2. The Badgers kept up the pressure earned a 13-9 shot advantage for the frame, but McAdam was strong in net by making 12 saves, allowing Scheid to net his second of the game with Jurusik pulled.
Wisconsin earned a 37-29 shot advantage for the game, while Penn State killed off all four Badger power plays, limiting Wisconsin to only four shots. Penn State was 0-for-1 on the man-advantage and blocked 17 shots, led by David Glen (Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta), who had three.
PHOTO GALLERY
NITTANY NOTES
Penn State scored more goals in Thursday's win (5) than it had in its previous three Big Ten Tournament games combined (4).
The Nittany Lions are now 2-1-0 all-time in the Big Ten Quarterfinals and 2-1-0 all-time at Xcel Energy Center.
Penn State improved to 9-7-0 all-time against Wisconsin and has now won seven of its last eight against the Badgers.
Penn State was held to a season-tying low of 29 shots by the Badgers (last: Feb. 6 at Minnesota). Both instances were victories for Penn State.
Eric Scheid tallied his sixth-career multi-goal game and his first since Jan. 16, 2016 vs. Wisconsin. Thursday was his 19th career multi-point game as he matched his career high of three points, which occurred in the same game against Wisconsin in January.
Luke Juha registered his first career three-point game and his 11th career multi-point effort. His three-assist game matches the single-game program record.
Ricky DeRosa notched his fifth career multi-point game and his first since Jan. 24, 2015 vs. Northern Michigan.
DeRosa took part in his 100th career game on Thursday. Scheid played in his 100th game for Penn State and 130th overall. The forward duo became the eighth and ninth Nittany Lions to reach the century mark.
Tommy Olczyk tallied his third career multi-point game, all of which have come this season.
David Goodwin gathered his 18th career multi-point game and his team-leading eighth of the season. He set a new career high for points in a season with 36. His 25 assists has him one behind the single-season record at Penn State (26; Taylor Holstrom, 2014-15).
NEXT TIME OUT
Penn State will play second-seeded Michigan in the Big Ten Semifinals on Friday at 5 p.m. ET on Big Ten Network. The Wolverines swept the season series from the Nittany Lions.