In front of a packed Pegula Ice Arena that saw the fourth-highest attendance in the history of the program Dec. 8, it was No. 9 Penn State that got the best of No. 5 Notre Dame and all-conference goaltender Cale Morris by a score of 9-1.
The Nittany Lions' nine unanswered goals, including three in each period, is the most goals in a single Big Ten Conference game in program history.
"It just seemed like everything came together today," head coach Guy Gadowsky said postgame. "A great crowd, great goaltending, great offense, a lot of other things too."
The Blue and White's offensive explosion comes on the heels of a tough 5-4 loss the previous night, as the Fighting Irish squeaked out another close win over Penn State — a trend that Gadowsky and his team were most certainly ready to break.
"Yeah, I think it's a hurdle that we really wanted to get over 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," Gadowsky noted. "So yes, I think this was a good hurdle to get over."
Penn State's offense, which leads the nation in scoring with more than five goals per game, was fueled by its depth and balanced offensive attack. A total of 13 different Nittany Lion student-athletes recorded a point and four players registered three or more points.
"We like it. It's something we're trying to achieve," Gadowsky said of his team's ability to get balanced production from every line. "Obviously you can't achieve it every night or every weekend, but it's something we try to do and I think this weekend was an indication that we're doing a pretty good job of that."
Forwards Evan Barratt and Alex Limoges, who both were shut out of the scoresheet in Friday night's loss, rebounded in a big way Saturday as Barratt collected three assists in the first period in addition to Limoges' two goals and an assist in the opening frame.
"I think it's huge for (Barratt and Limoges), especially after the last couple weekends we hadn't really had a lot of lines going up," said junior forward Brandon Biro, who also tallied three assists on the night. "They've kind of been carrying us, but this weekend I think everyone was going. They just play really well together. They're always in the right spot and always are giving into each other and scoring a lot for us. We can always count on them to get a couple goals."
Gadowsky talked about the importance of his two sophomore playmakers, who now sit as the national point leaders in college hockey.
"It was really big because we we're actually down 1-0 and that line really got us going big time," Gadowsky said of the tandem's first period explosion. "Chase (Berger) took over for a little bit but they certainly got us going and had a great game. It was really good to see, and that was a testament to them, to bounce back in the way they did."
Barratt and Limoges were not the only two Penn Staters to have a historic night Saturday. Senior forward Chase Berger, on top of having a goal and three assists in the contest, reached a cherished milestone as he recorded his 100th career NCAA point.
"It's really cool, but obviously I have a lot of really great teammates to thank," said Berger, who became the third Penn State player to accomplish this feat. "Andrew Sturtz comes to mind, Dave Goodwin, Brandon (Biro), just a lot of guys. It's really awesome that my parents were here, too, and it was really cool to do it in front of them."
Penn State will look to carry their offensive fireworks into its matchup with Princeton on December 15th at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
