UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Senior Chase Berger (St. Louis, Mo.) tied his career-high with a four-point effort while joining the 100-point club as No. 9 Penn State used nine unanswered goals to rout No. 5 Notre dame, 9-1, this evening in Big Ten Conference action at Pegula Ice Arena.
The Nittany Lions improve to 11-5-1 on the year and 3-4-1-1 in Big Ten play while the Irish fall to 11-5-1 overall and 5-3-0-0 in conference action.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Notre Dame opened the scoring as Cam Morrison was able to redirect a pass from Cal Burke past the right pad of PSU net-minder Peyton Jones (Langhorne, Pa.) for the 1-0 lead at 3:35 of the first period.
- Penn State answered with a short-handed tally as sophomore Evan Barratt (Bristol, Pa.) sprung classmate Alex Limoges (Winchester, Va.) in on a breakaway and the sophomore used a quick snapshot from point-blank range finishing over the blocker of Irish goaltender Cale Morris for the 1-1 score at 5:18 of the frame.
- The Nittany Lions then grabbed the lead as Limoges ripped a rebound into a yawning net off Barratt's initial bid at 12:23 before extended the lead to a pair of goals after senior Kevin Kerr's (Bensalem, Pa.) shot from the slot redirected off junior Liam Folkes (Scarborough, Ontario) and past Morris for the 3-1 advantage at 16:21 of the opening stanza.
- Penn State extended the lead further with an early power-play tally in the second period as sophomore Sam Sternschein (Syosett, N.Y.) cashed in on the doorstep off some great passing from junior Brandon Biro (Sherwood Park, Alberta) and Berger for the 4-1 margin at 5:05 of the frame.
- PSU continued with the onslaught as Berger jumped a pass and set up an odd-man rush where Biro found senior Alec Marsh (Bridgewater, N.J.) for the tap in score at 12:47. Berger then ripped a no-angle shot over the shoulder of Dylan St. Cyr during the power-play for the 6-1 edge at 16:38 of the second period.
- The Nittany Lions extended the lead to 7-1 with their third man-advantage tally of the evening as junior Nikita Pavlychev (Yaroslavl, Russia) used some nifty moves streaking down the slot finishing short side past St. Cyr's left pad at 10:59 of the third period.
- Marsh then finished off a feed from Berger during another odd-man rush at 16:42 before Barratt lit the lamp with the ninth-straight goal for the Nittany Lions at 18:35 to account for the final score.
GOALTENDING
- Jones improves to 7-3-1 on the season after stopping 26 shots.
- Morris falls to 8-5-1 on the year after making 15 saves over the first 32:47 of the contest before being relieved by St. Cyr who stopped 19 pucks over the final 27:13 of game action.
GADOWSKY POSTGAME
Opening Statement
It just seemed like everything came together today. A great crowd, great goaltending, great offense, a lot of other things too.
Q: The nine goals obviously stuck out and I'm sure you're probably happier you just gave up one goal. How do you evaluate your team's defensive performance tonight?
A: The truth is, the first period yesterday was the best defensive performance we've ever had actually, ever. We gave up three attempts and we had an excellent defensive effort tonight for a more consistent time, but it was one of those that it had to turn like that's the truth. Obviously, a big, big part of that we had huge saves when we needed them. It's nice that we put them together at the same time, great offense and great defense.
Q: Chase Berger scoring his hundredth point of his NCAA career tonight, what has he meant to your program?
A: You don't get to be a unanimous selection for captain by accident and he does it all. He scores great points, great goals and great points like you saw tonight. But he does so much more and he's a perfect representative of what we want Penn State hockey to be. He's a great student and a great person. He's extremely grateful for everything Penn State has to offer and he's a tremendous player and a tremendous leader.
Q: I know you value every win and everyone's important, but is there a part of this that's maybe a little extra gratifying given how close you've played them and how Cale [Morris] specifically has given you a hard time?
A: Yeah, I think it's a hurdle that we really wanted to get over (beating Notre Dame) and I do feel that we've played really good games against them in the past, but we've always come out on the short end. So yes, I think this was a good hurdle to get over.
NOTES
- This weekend marks just the fourth regular-season series in program history with both teams ranked inside the top-10 nationally and only the second at Pegula Ice Arena dating back to February 17-18, 2017 against Minnesota.
- Tonight's attendance of 6,213 was the fourth largest crowd in Pegula Ice Arena history as well as the 86th straight sellout and 101st all-time.
- Penn State earned just its fourth victory all-time against a top-5 ranked opponent and it's first since beating No. 4 Minnesota in the 2017 Big Ten Tournament semifinals on March 17, 2017.
- The nine goals scored by Penn State are the most in a single Big Ten Conference game in program history while the eight goal margin of victory ties a program record set two seasons ago against Arizona State.
- After tying his career-high with a four-point night, Berger becomes just the third player in program history to eclipse 100 career points. The senior registered his third multi-point game this season and the 19th of his career. With his 12th career power-play goal, Berger is also now just one man-advantage tally shy of the Penn State all-time record for a career held by Casey Bailey.
- The three goals allowed by Cale Morris in the first period mark the first time all season Notre Dame has allowed three in a single frame and the first time since February 10, 2018 against Ohio State. Overall the five goals allowed by Morris are the second-most he has allowed in a single game.
- Penn State held the commanding 43-27 edge in shots, and went 3-for-4 on the power-play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill. This marks the first time since December 9th of last year against Robert Morris that Penn State has scored at least three power-play goals.
- Marsh registered just his second career multi-goal game, both coming against Notre Dame, while collecting his sixth career multi-point effort. Marsh now has six career goals against the Irish in 11 games.
- Barratt's three assists in the first period tie the Penn State single-season record for most assists in a single period set just last weekend by Limoges. The sophomore now has 11 multi-point efforts this season and 14 for his career after adding a goal for a career-high four points. Following his Saturday night performance, the sophomore regained his lead atop the nation in goals (13) and points (29).
- With a pair of goals and one assist, Limoges registered his 9th multi-point game this season and the 12th of his career and collecting his second multi-goal game of the season and the third of his career.
- Biro tied his career-high with three points on a trio of assists securing his sixth multi-point game this season and the 17th of his career. With 50 career assists, Biro is now tied for third all-time at Penn State with Erik Autio '18 and Andrew Sturtz '18.
- Folkes collected his sixth multi-point game of the season and the 12th of his career with one goal and one assist.
- Penn State is now 3-6-2 against Notre Dame snapping a six-game winless drought against the Irish while securing its first Big Ten Conference victory against the Golden Domers
NEXT UP
Penn State closes out the first semester of play as they travel to the Wells Fargo Center for the Philadelphia College Hockey Faceoff to conclude the season series against Princeton with a 7:30 p.m. puck drop next Saturday night.