Nov. 25, 2017
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Senior Trevor Hamilton (Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich.) lit the lamp with less than a minute remaining in regulation to help Penn State earn a point and the series victory over Michigan State with a 2-2 tie this evening in Big Ten Conference action inside Pegula Ice Arena to close out the weekend series.
Michigan State won the shootout 2-1 to secure the extra point as they move to 7-6-1 on the year and 1-4-1-1 in conference play while the Nittany Lions now stand at 8-7-1 overall and 3-4-1-0 in the Big Ten.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- After a scoreless first 20 minutes, the Nittany Lions opened the scoring with strong offensive pressure resulting in a great feed from sophomore Brett Murray (Bolton, Ont.) to freshman Evan Barratt (Bristol, Pa.) for the 1-0 lead at 12:57 of the second period.
- Michigan State responded, however, taking a 2-1 lead into the second intermission as Taro Hirose and Carson Gatt registered a pair of goals just 2:05 apart at 15:39 and 17:44, respectively.
- Penn State controlled the pace of play throughout the final period, but the Spartans continued to get into the shooting lanes blocking 14 shots in the period and 32 for the game.
- However, with two minutes remaining in regulation Penn State head coach Guy Gadowsky opted for the extra attacker and pulled goalie Peyton Jones (Langhorne, Pa.). The plan worked as Hamilton backhanded home a rebound off junior Kevin Kerr's (Bensalem, Pa.) initial shot for the 2-2 tie with just 34 ticks remaining.
- PSU then continued to dominate into the extra session even drawing a penalty as they spent the final 1:43 with the man-advantage, but were unable to get a shot past Spartan net-minder John Lethemon and the game ended in a 2-2 tie.
- Michigan State then took the extra point in the shootout as both Taro Hirose and Mitch Lewandowski found the back of the net and only junior Andrew Sturtz (Buffalo, N.Y.) managed a goal for the Nittany Lions in their three attempts.
GOALTENDING
Jones moves to 7-5-1 on the year after collecting 21 saves while Lethemon bounced back after a poor showing last night and stopped 41 shots to move to 7-4-1 on the year.
NOTES
- Michigan State earns points for just the second time in the last ten meetings against Penn State as the Nittany Lions improve to 8-0-2 in those contests including a 6-0-2 mark in the last eight meetings at Pegula Ice Arena. Penn State leads the all-time series 10-6-4.
- Hamilton's goal marks the first extra attacker goal for Penn State since James Robinson (Cochrane, Alb.) scored on a delayed penalty against Ohio State on January 20, 2017.
- Penn State held the 43-23 advantage in shots and both teams went 0-for-1 with the man-advantage.
- Barratt now has a career-best two-game goal/point streak after scoring a second period goal and each of his four goals this season have come in the last four games.
- Kerr extends his point streak to three games tallying his fifth assist of the season on Hamilton's game-tying goal in the third period.
- After a three-point weekend Sturtz stands alone in second on the Penn State all-time points list with 83 for his career trailing only the 128 of David Goodwin.
- Freshman Sam Sternschein (Syosset, N.Y.), sophomore Brandon Biro (Sherwood Park, Alb.) and junior Chase Berger (St. Louis, Mo.) each see their point-streaks snapped at three games.
NEXT UP
Penn State travels to Columbus for a pair of Big Ten Conference games next weekend against Ohio State on Friday at 7 p.m. and Saturday at 4 p.m.
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| Final | |||||
| Penn State | 10 | 12 | 17 | 4 | 43 | |
| Michigan State | 6 | 10 | 7 | 0 | 23 |
| Final | |||||
| Penn State | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0-1 | |
| Michigan State | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-1 |
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