UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – No. 5 Penn State faltered in the third period as No. 16 Michigan scored four unanswered goals to secure the 6-4 victory this evening in Big Ten Conference action at Pegula Ice Arena.
With the loss the Nittany Lions drop to 8-2-0 on the year and 0-1-0-0 in Big Ten play while the Wolverines improve to 6-4-0 overall and 2-1-0-0 in conference action.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Joe Cecconi opened the scoring for the Wolverines as his shot from the point on the power-play snuck past Nittany Lion senior net-minder Chris Funkey (Orland Park, Ill.) for the 1-0 lead at 4:40 of the first period.
- Penn State answered as sophomore Alex Limoges (Winchester, Va.) found classmate Evan Barratt (Bristol, Pa.) alone at the right dot during the power-play and Barratt ripped a wrister past Michigan net-minder Strauss Mann for the 1-1 tie at 6:16 of the opening frame.
- The Nittany Lions then grabbed the lead as after a strong play by freshman Paul DeNaples (Moscow, Pa.) to keep the puck in the zone it was junior Denis Smirnov (Moscow, Russia) finding senior Ludvig Larsson (Malmo, Sweden) in front of the net and he chipped the puck over Mann's shoulder for the 2-1 advantage at 14:52.
- PSU extended the lead early in the middle frame as shortly after a penalty expired junior Brandon Biro (Sherwood Park, Alb.) sprung classmate Nate Sucese (Fairport, N.Y.) on a breakaway and he finished five-hole with a nifty forehand-backhand move for the 3-1 advantage just 60 seconds into the period.
- Michigan responded cutting the deficit back to a single goal as Nick Patujov redirected a shot from Jack Summers past Funkey on the left side of the net for the 3-2 score at 4:50.
- Penn State added to its lead as junior Liam Folkes (Scarborough, Ontario) ripped home a feed from Limoges for the 4-2 advantage at 18:59 of the second period.
- The Wolverines again cut the deficit to a single goal as Josh Norris was the beneficiary of a juicy rebound as he slapped the puck into a yawning net just below the right dot for the 4-3 score at 4:15 of the third period.
- Michigan then tied the contest as Jack Becker roofed a backhand effort off another rebound out front for the 4-4 score at 8:10.
- The Wolverines then took the lead with another power-play tally by Jake Slaker for the 5-4 score at 14:34 before Slaker hit the empty net at 19:42 for the final score.
GOALTENDING
Funkey drops his first contest this season falling to 4-1-0 on the year after a 24 save performance while Mann stopped 31 pucks to improve to 4-1-0 overall.
NOTES
- Penn State held the 35-30 advantage in shots while going 1-for-2 with the man-advantage. Michigan went 2-for-5 on the power-play.
- The Nittany Lions entered the game outscoring opponents 22-6 in the third period, but allowed four goals over the final 20 minutes and are now 8-1-0 on the year when leading or tied entering the final period.
- Penn State falls to 4-2-0 in Big Ten openers and the loss snaps a streak of three consecutive victories to open conference play.
- Barratt and Limoges each extended their career-long point streaks to nine games, which is just one shy of the Penn State program record of 10 games held by Smirnov and David Goodwin '17.
- Barratt also set a new program record as he now has a goal in five straight games while registering his fifth multi-point effort this season, fourth-straight, and the ninth of his career.
- With a pair of assists, Limoges secured his seventh multi-point effort this season and the tenth of his career. The sophomore has now registered multiple points in five-straight contest including multiple assists in four-straight which is a new career-long assists streak.
- Limoges now leads the country with 18 points so far this season passing ASU's Johnny Walker.
- Smirnov extended his point-streak to six games with his first period assist on Larsson's goal and with 81 career points is now in sole possession of fourth on the Penn State all-time scoring list breaking a tie with Casey Bailey. Smirnov is also now tied with Luke Juha '16 for sixth on the all-time assists list with 45.
- With his second period goal, Sucese is now tied with Smirnov for sixth on the all-time Penn State goals list with 36 for his career.
- Junior Nikita Pavlychev (Yaroslavl, Russia) sees his career-best eight-game point streak halted as he was kept off the scoresheet for the first time since the season opener.
GADOWSKY POSTGAME
Opening Statement
"We feel really bad because it is tough to waste that crowd. The students are gone and you see the student section absolutely packed by community members. It is so nice to see and I feel really badly that we wasted such a great atmosphere. You have to give Michigan a lot of credit for the way they played the third and I think we have to take some of the blame for it as well."
Q: "What was different about the third period?"
A: "Penalties. I think we were 3-0 in the third. Stick penalties are called very tight this year and we know that. We had a couple stick penalties and that is completely on us. When we do that, bad things will happen especially against a team with the talent of Michigan."
Q: "With a tough Big Ten schedule ahead, what adjustments are you going to have to make to change the outcome of close games?"
A: "It is not that we do anything different, it is that every little play is a little more important. You have to be more careful with your stick, you have to be better on the blue lines, and you have to battle harder. Faceoffs are going to be tougher. You do not have to change anything but you have to amp it up. That is what we have to do to win."
NEXT UP
The two teams return to Pegula Ice Arena tomorrow night to close out the weekend series with puck drop slated for 7 p.m.