UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Five-different players scored for No. 16 Penn State including freshman Aarne Talvitie (Espoo, Finland) who notched the game-winning goal during a 5-1 victory over No. 17 Clarkson in non-conference action tonight at Pegula Ice Arena to close out the season series and the opening weekend of the 2018-19 season.
The Nittany Lions completed their first-ever opening weekend sweep and move to 2-0-0 for the first time in program history with the victory while the Golden Knights fall to 0-2-0 to begin the year.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Clarkson opened the scoring for the second consecutive night as Nico Sturm fed Cooper Grant on the right side of the crease and he beat junior goaltender Peyton Jones (Langhorne, Pa.) low on the blocker side for the 1-0 score at the 3:33 mark of the first period.
- Penn State was quick to respond scoring twice in just 62 seconds to take the 2-1 lead at 5:47 of the first period. Sophomore Alex Limoges (Winchester, Va.) beat Golden Knight net-minder Jake Kielly right through the five-hole off a clean face-off win by classmate Evan Barratt (Bristol, Pa.) at 4:45 before freshman Aarne Talvitie (Espoo, Finland) registered his first career goal as a Nittany Lion when he ripped home a rebound off junior Nikita Pavlychev's (Yaroslavl, Russia) initial bid.
- The Nittany Lions extended their lead early in the second period as this time Pavlychev cleaned up his own rebound sticking with the play and slipping the puck past the right pad of Kielly at 5:20 of the middle frame.
- Penn State continued to build its lead to 4-1 as junior Nate Sucese (Fairport, N.Y.) sprung classmate Brandon Biro (Sherwood Park, Alb.) for a breakaway and the alternate captain beat Kielly over the blocker for the three-goal margin at 13:13 of the second period.
- Senior Chase Berger (St. Louis, Mo.) put a lid on the game as he was able to hit the empty net at the 16:06 mark of the third period for the 5-1 final.
GOALTENDING
Jones was strong in net all night stopping 35-of-36 shots including all 26 over the final two periods to move to 1-0-0 on the year while Kielly registered 30 saves in the defeat to fall to 0-2-0.
NOTES
- Five Nittany Lions registered multi-point games with Biro (one goal, one assist) and Sucese (two assists) collecting their second in as many nights. For Biro it marks the 13th of his career and for Sucese it is his 16th.
- Berger notched his first multi-point effort of the season and the 17th of his career after a one goal and one assist showing.
- Talvitie added an assist on Berger's empty-net goal giving him his first career multi-point effort.
- Pavlychev's three points are a new career-high as he registers just the fifth multi-point game of his career and his first since last December against Robert Morris.
- Clarkson held the slim 36-35 edge in shots on goal, but went 0-for-3 with the man-advantage. Penn State was 0-for-1 on the power-play.
- The Nittany Lions once again dominated in the blocked shots department holding the 27-19 advantage including an eye-popping eight from junior Kris Myllari (Kanata, Ontario) while three others tallied at least three.
- Penn State also controlled the draw winning 27-of-50 face-offs with senior Ludvig Larsson (Malmo, Sweden) controlling the pace with a 13-3 mark.
COACHES CORNER
"You could just see he [Aarne Talvitie] needed a little bit of time, but it certainly didn't take long. Tonight he was excellent, he probably could have had more than just the one [goal] he got. He won battles, he made plays and he seemed just a lot more comfortable. I think you're going to see him continue to do that."
"Pav [Nikita Pavlychev] has a great mentality and he's talented. Sometimes for guys that are 6 feet 8 inches tall, it takes them a little longer to grow into their bodies. It's not that we've changed anything, it's him. He's worked extremely hard in the weight room, he knows that's what he has to do. I think that's the biggest difference. Last summer we asked him to shoot the puck more at the net, I think he sort of took that to heart last year. This year he's just continued what he does which is getting bigger, stronger and faster. I know he got points tonight, but I thought he was great defensively. Often when you play a full game you get rewarded, and I thought he had a great defensive game."
"I thought he [Peyton Jones] was awesome. We gave up one in the first five minutes which we did not want to see at all but boy, was he awesome after that. They didn't have a ton of volume shots either but they had a couple huge ones, like really good chances that he [Jones] just made great saves on, so you have to give him a lot of credit."
NEXT UP
The Nittany Lions remain home as they host a pair of non-conference games against the Niagara Purple Eagles next Friday evening and Saturday afternoon.