COLUMBUS, Ohio – Junior Denis Smirnov (Moscow, Russia) netted the game winning goal on the power-play to give No. 6 Penn State the 4-3 victory over No. 5 Ohio State in Big Ten Conference action this evening at Value City Arena.
The Nittany Lions improve to 10-2-0 on the year and 2-1-0-0 in Big Ten play while the Buckeyes fall to 8-4-1 overall and 3-2-0-0 in conference action.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Ohio State opened the scoring as Mason Jobst collected a loose puck in the slot during the man-advantage and ripped a shot from the right dot that popped the water bottle and gave the Buckeyes the 1-0 lead at 16:34 of the first period.
- Penn State answered as junior Kris Myllari (Kanata, Ontario) sent a stretch pass to sophomore Evan Barratt (Bristol, Pa.) and he skated into the right slot and fired back-post slipping it through the arm of OSU goaltender Sean Romeo for the 1-1 score at 4:27 of the middle frame.
- The Nittany Lions then grabbed the 2-1 edge with a power-play tally from junior Brandon Biro (Sherwood Park, Alberta) as he redirected a nifty little feed from classmate Liam Folkes (Scarborough, Ontario) past Romeo at 9:51 of the second period.
- The Buckeyes evened the game as Jobst fed Austin Pooley during an odd-man rush for a shorthanded goal and the 2-2 score at 11:43 of the middle frame before PSU regained the lead just 49 ticks later as sophomore Cole Hults (Stoughton, Wis.) slipped to the net and beat Romeo five-hole for the 3-2 margin at 12:32 of the second stanza.
- Ohio State tied the game again early in the third period as John Wiitala fired a wrist shot over the glove of Penn State net-minder Peyton Jones (Langhorne, Pa.) from the slot at 2:32 for the 3-3 score.
- Junior Denis Smirnov (Moscow, Russia) regained the lead for the Nittany Lions during the man-advantage as he took a pass from Hults and skated into the slot releasing a quick wrister that went over the glove of Romeo for the 4-3 margin at 8:36 of the frame.
GOALTENDING
Jones stopped a season-high 41 shots including 21 in the third period to improve to 6-1-0 on the year while Romeo falls to 4-3-0 after a 39 save performance.
NOTES
- Ohio State held the slim 44-43 edge in shots while going 1-for-4 with the man-advantage. Penn State went 2-for-4 on the power-play and has now scored at least one man-advantage goal in six straight games.
- Penn State improves to 10-1-0 on the year when leading or tied heading into the final frame.
- The Nittany Lions are now 3-1-1 against the Buckeyes over the past two seasons, but trail the all-time series 9-12-2.
- Barratt set a new Penn State record as he now has an 11-game point streak while also extended his program record goal streak to seven games. The sophomore now has seven multi-point efforts this season, six-straight, and 11 for his career after added an assist later in the period.
- Folkes extends his career-best point streak to five games with his second period assist on Biro's power-play goal.
- With his second multi-point game of the season and the seventh of his career, Hults moves past Nate Jenson '15 for eighth on the Penn State all-time points list by a defenseman.
- Biro collected his fifth multi-point effort this season and the 16th of his career with a one goal and one assist performance and moves into solo possession of eighth on the Penn State all-time assists list with 44 for his career.
- Smirnov is now tied with teammate Nate Sucese (Fairport, N.Y.) for sixth on the all-time goals list with 37. With one assist on the night, Sucese is now just one point shy of Casey Bailey for fifth on the Penn State all-time points list.
- Sophomore Alex Limoges (Winchester, Va.) was held off the stat sheet for just the second time this season as he sees his career-long 10-game point streak snapped.
NEXT UP
The two teams conclude the weekend series tomorrow evening back at the Schott with puck drop slated for 8 p.m.