UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Sophomore Alex Limoges (Winchester, Va.) scored a pair of third period goals including the game-winner to lead No. 6 Penn State to a, 6-5, come-from-behind victory over Arizona State on Friday evening in non-conference action at Pegula Ice Arena.
With the win the Nittany Lions move to 6-0-0 to begin the season while the Sun Devils fall to 6-3-0 on the year.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Penn State opened the scoring as a diving Evan Barratt (Bristol, Pa.) redirected the puck into the back of the net off a feed from junior Liam Folkes (Scarborough, Ontario) for the 1-0 lead at 4:36 of the first period.
- ASU tied the contest on a delayed penalty call as Tyler Busch slipped the puck past senior goaltender Chris Funkey (Orland Park, Ill.) in front of the crease off a feed from Johnny Walker for the 1-1 score at 11:13 of the opening period.
- The Sun Devils then took the lead as Jashua Maniscalo got one past the pad of Funkey near the far post for the 2-1 advantage at 17:38, however, the Nittany Lions responded as senior Chase Berger (St. Louis, Mo.) finished off a feed from sophomore Sam Sternschein (Syosset, N.Y.) for the 2-2 score just 30 seconds later.
- Arizona State again grabbed the one goal lead early in the second period as Dylan Hollman finished off a feed out front from Filips Buncis for the 3-2 score at 2:11 before junior Nate Sucese (Fairport, N.Y.) found the back of the net off a great feed from classmate Brandon Biro (Sherwood Park, Alb.) during an odd-man rush at 10:22 evening the score again at 3-3.
- Hollman added his second of the game at 17:25 of the middle frame as ASU took the 4-3 lead into the second intermission.
- Penn State responded in the third period using just 27 seconds to flip the score as junior Nikita Pavlychev (Yaroslavl, Russia) scored on the doorstep at the 6:16 mark before Limoges' first of the game at 6:43 for the 5-4 lead.
- Limoges then sent home the eventual game-winner on the left side of the crease on a rebound after a shot by Barratt for the 6-4 margin at 9:25 of the final frame.
- ASU got one back late as Johnny Walker rang one off the iron and in at 18:25, but the Penn State defense was strong the rest of the way to seal the victory.
GOALTENDING
Funkey improves to 3-0-0 on the year after stopping 26 shots while ASU net-minder Joey Daccord drops to 6-3-0 in the defeat after making 34 saves.
NOTES
- Senior Alec Marsh (Bridgewater, N.J.) became the 15th player to skate in 100 career games as a Nittany Lion on Friday evening.
- Friday night marked the 99th game inside Pegula Ice Arena since it opened doors prior to the 2013-14 season. The Nittany Lions are 60-29-10 on home ice since beating Army West Point, 4-1, on Opening night. Penn State has now won 10-straight at Pegula just two shy of its program record of 12.
- Penn State held the 40-31 edge in shots while going 0-for-1 on the power-play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.
- Folkes racked up a trio of assists in the game for a new career-high as he registers his second multi-point effort this season and the eighth of his career.
- Barratt extends his career-long point-streak to five games while collecting his third multi-point game this season and the sixth of his career while Pavlychev marks a new career-high extending his point-streak to five games.
- Limoges has now tied his career-high with a five-game point streak after collecting his third multi-point game this season and the sixth of his career while also securing his second-career multi-goal game.
- Freshman Aarne Talvitie (Espoo, Finland) runs his point-streak to five games after picking up the primary assist on Pavlychev's third period goal.
- Friday night marked the first time this season Penn State has entered the third period trailing, however, they are now outscoring teams 14-4 in the final frame.
- Sophomore Cole Hults (Stoughton, Wis.) collected his 20th career assist on Sucese's second period goal to move past David Thompson '17 for ninth all-time at Penn State in assists by a defenseman. Biro secured his 41st career assist, which now moves him into solo possession on tenth place all-time.
GADOWSKY POSTGAME
Opening Statement
"Obviously really good third period, and obviously we got on the backs of the Limoges, Barratt, Folkes line, who played great. You have to give [Arizona State] a lot of credit. I think they were the more mentally tough team early for sure. We have to change that if we are going to be successful tomorrow."
Q: You guys have played Arizona State the past three years now. What do you think is the biggest difference in their program now versus a couple years ago?
A: "They're doing a great job. I thought that was the most disciplined team we played for sure. I think they have a lot more weapons. They're very dangerous offensively. I was very impressed with how they played, and specifically the discipline that they had. They scored 13 goals last weekend. They got five on us tonight. They have a high octane offense, and they're a fun team to watch."
Q: What does it say about that Folkes line - they seemed to get you back into the game. What do you think was working for that line?
A: "It was their emotion, it was how they did it, they are really great players. That's a really big part of it too - they're just really good. We got on their backs emotionally. We needed a spark and they provided it. They had really good shifts - it wasn't like they just had a lucky bounce. They really built on their momentum and they had chance after chance and controlled the play. They were excellent tonight."
NEXT UP
The two teams are back at Pegula Ice Arena to close out the season series on Saturday night with puck drop slated for 8 p.m.