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MADISON, Wis. -- The No. 14 Penn State men's hockey team was unable to overcome a four-goal Wisconsin spurt and its third period rally fell short on Saturday night at the Kohl Center. The Nittany Lions out-shot Wisconsin 21-2 in the third and pulled within a goal late, but couldn't fine the equalizer to force overtime.
Kenny Brooks (Las Vegas, Nev.) scored the opening goal after five minutes and David Goodwin (Des Peres, Mo.) later added a power-play tally in the third to cut the lead to 4-2. Andrew Sturtz (Buffalo, N.Y.) tallied a short-handed goal with 1:46 remaining as Penn State had its seven-game winning streak vs. the Badgers snapped.
Down 4-1 entering the third, the Penn State (20-10-4, 10-6-1-1 Big Ten) was relentless in its pursuit of a comeback. The comeback trail finally began in earnest as Goodwin's 11th of the year came with 10:46 to play. Sturtz accepted a David Glen (Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta) pass in front of Matt Jurusik's net, spun around and found an open Goodwin on the right post to cut the lead to 4-2.
The Nittany Lions continued to press Wisconsin (7-18-8, 2-12-4-2 Big Ten) forcing Jurusik into several solid saves. It seemed as though Penn State's comeback chances were greatly diminished when Brooks took a cross-checking penalty 2:40 from the final horn. Nevertheless, the nation's leading short-handed team struck for its 12th such tally.
David Thompson (Glen Mills, Pa.) blocked a shot and Sturtz went the distance, cruising around two Badger defensemen in the slot and tallying a goal for the third straight game, his 17th of the year with 1:46 to go.
The Badgers remained on the power play until Kevin Shulze's third minor penalty of the night provided PSU a 4-on-4 opportunity that turned into a 5-on-4 when PSU pulled reserve goaltender Chris Funkey (Orland Park, Ill.) with 1:03 to go. PSU had good looks on net, but the Badgers blocked most attempts, even when Brooks's penalty expired, setting up a 6-on-4 chance as Wisconsin ended their Senior Day victorious.
Penn State out-shot Wisconsin 49-26 for the game. The two shots allowed in the third period were the fewest by a Nittany Lion team this season.
In the first period, Penn State killed off an Erik Autio (Espoo, Finland) minor penalty. Chase Berger (St. Louis, Mo.) intercepted a pass at the blue line, had his shot blocked and Brooks put away the rebound after only 4:59 of action.
Wisconsin responded in a big way with two goals less than five minutes apart: the first by Jedd Soleway on the power play with 9:12 remaining and Jason Ford's first career goal and a 2-1 lead.
Penn State was the aggressor to open the second period, taking the first five shots including Alec Marsh's (Bridgewater, N.J.) breakaway chance that was stopped by Jurusik. The momentum shifted when Aidan Cavallini's stick work behind Eamon McAdam's (Perkasie, Pa.) cage resulted in a pass to Matthew Freytag, who was stationed in front for the goal, Wisconsin's first shot of the frame with 15:24 to go.
Just 64 second later, a similar play saw Grant Besse plant a puck on Corbin McGuire's stick in front of the net and the lead grew to 4-1 with 14:20 remaining, forcing McAdam from the game with just nine saves made on 13 shot attempts.
Funkey replaced him to make 11 saves in the second and two more in the third for a game-total of 13. Funkey has made three reserve appearances for Penn State totaling 67:29 with 17 saves made against 0 goals against.
Toward the end of the second period, Funkey makes several terrific saves by fending off a Wagner breakaway followed by a post-to-post save. That one led to a Goodwin breakaway chance that Jurusik stopped all in the final minute of the period. PSU out-shot Wisconsin, 16-12, in the second.
Penn State won the faceoff battle 39-28 and was 6-for-7 on the penalty kill. The Nittany Lions were 1-for-4 on the power play.
NITTANY NOTES
- Penn State dropped its first game to the Badgers since March 21, 2014 (2-1 at the Big Ten Tournament). Penn State leads the all-time series 8-7-0.
- The Nittany Lions lost their first game this season when scoring the game's first goal (16-1-2). PSU also fell to 9-2-0 when scoring a short-handed goal.
- Andrew Sturtz scored in three straight games for the second time this season. Sturtz on a four-game point streak (3-3-6) and has seven multi-point games this year.
NEXT TIME OUT
Penn State continues its road ways with a final regular-season series at Michigan next week on Friday-Saturday, March 11-12.