Feb. 10, 2018
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ERIE, Pa. - Freshman Natalie Heising (Maple Grove, Minn.) recorded a pair of power play goals as the Penn State women's hockey team finished in a 3-3 tie against the Mercyhurst Lakers in a College Hockey America (CHA) contest Saturday afternoon inside the Mercyhurst Ice Center.
After facing a two-goal deficit twice, the Nittany Lions rallied back as Heising recorded her second power play goal of the game with 15.4 seconds left in regulation to force overtime.
The Lakers (13-13-4, 10-3-3 CHA) opened the game with a pair of goals over the first 20 minutes of play to build a 2-0 lead over the Nittany Lions (6-13-11, 3-6-7 CHA). For Mercyhurst in the opening frame, Brooke Hartwick scored at 11:13 and then Callie Paddock netted a goal at 18:35.
The second period saw the two teams go back-and-forth late in the frame. During the second stanza, Heising scored her team-leading 10th goal of the year with a power play strike at 16:13 to cut the Mercyhurst lead to 2-1. On the Heising strike, classmate Katie Rankin (Kanata, Ontario) tallied the primary assist, while junior Kelsey Crow (Minnetonka, Minn.) recorded the secondary assist.
With the score still 2-1 in favor of the Lakers late in the second period, Mercyhurst's Sam Isbell scored with 16.4 seconds left on the clock to make it 3-1, but with 1.3 seconds left, senior Bella Sutton (Shoreview, Minn.) beat the buzzer and lit the lamp to make it a one-goal game once again.
Trailing 3-2 with 2:03 left in regulation, the Nittany Lions went to the power play in search of the game-tying goal. With 1:16 left on the clock in regulation, Penn State pulled netminder Hannah Ehresmann (Minnetonka, Minn.) in favor of the extra attacker. Then with 15.4 seconds, Heising beat Mercyhurst goaltender Sarah McDonnell to tie the contest at 3-3. On the second Heising goal of the game, Brooke Madsen (Eagan, Minn.) and Sutton were credited with assists.
During the five-minute overtime period, each team had a power play chance, but neither team was able to convert.
In net for the Nittany Lions, Ehresmann finished the afternoon with 24 saves, while McDonnell made 28 saves for the Lakers.
The Nittany Lions return home to the Pegula Ice Arena for their final four games of the regular season starting next weekend with a series against the RIT Tigers. Puck drop against the Tigers is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Feb. 16 and 3 p.m. on Feb. 17.
NOTES: Mercyhurst leads all-time series against Penn State, 16-3-5…Penn State outshot Mercyhurst, 31-27…Penn State went 2-for-7 on the power play, while Mercyhurst went 0-for-6…Penn State tied the NCAA record for overtime games in a season with 15 (Boston U. - 2010)...Penn State is 1-3-11 in overtime games this year...Heising recorded her second career two-goal outing…Heising ranks second in goals by a Penn State freshman (11)...Sutton recorded her eighth career multi-point game…Sutton posted her fifth career game with at least one goal and one assist…Madsen recorded her fourth career game with at least two assists...Madsen is tied for third in points by a Penn State sophomore (18) and ranks third in assists by a Penn State sophomore (14).