UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Another multi-point effort from sophomore Evan Barratt (Bristol, Pa.) was not enough as No. 13 Penn State dropped a 6-4 decision to No. 4 Ohio State this afternoon in Big Ten Conference action from Pegula Ice Arena.
The loss moves Penn State to 13-9-2 overall and 5-8-1-1 in the Big Ten while the Buckeyes improve to 15-5-4 on the year and 8-3-3-2 in conference action.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Ohio State got on the board first as a scoring chance down one end for the Nittany Lions led to an odd-man rush the other way and Grant Gabrielle ripped a one-timer from the right dot past the blocker of PSU net-minder Peyton Jones (Langhorne, Pa.) for the 1-0 edge at 6:39 of the opening frame.
- Penn State evened the score as Barratt went coast-to-coast splitting a pair of defenders for the first shorthanded tally of his career as he beat OSU goaltender Tommy Nappier through the five-hole for the 1-1 score at 16:38 of the first period.
- The Nittany Lions grabbed their first lead of the weekend early in the second period as junior Liam Folkes (Scarborough, Ontario) ripped one far side over the blocker of Nappier from below the right dot at 1:43 of the stanza, but just 2:10 later the visitors tied it with a power-play goal from Dakota Joshua for the 2-2 score at 3:53 of the middle stanza.
- The Buckeyes regained the lead taking advantage of a 5-on-3 power-play as Matt Miller ripped a wrister over the blocker of Jones from the left circle for the 3-2 margin at 7:33 of the second period.
- Penn State pulled even again with its second shorthanded tally of the afternoon as senior Ludvig Larsson (Malmo, Sweden) finished off a feed from junior Nate Sucese (Fairport, N.Y.) during a 2-on-1 rush for the 3-3 score at 13:25, however, Joshua and Gustaf Westlund each netted power-play tallies just 1:23 apart during a five-minute major penalty for the 5-3 advantage at 16:19 of the second period.
- Mason Jobst then gave the Bucks a 6-3 advantage in the third period as he spun and ripped a no angle shot from the far half-wall that snuck over the shoulder of Jones at 6:09.
- Penn State began to mount the comeback as senior Chase Berger (St. Louis, Mo.) ripped in a shot shortside just moments after a penalty expired for the 6-4 deficit at 11:04 of the third period.
GOALTENDING
Jones stopped 33 shots, but falls to 9-7-2 after the loss while Nappier improves to 9-1-2 after a 34 save performance. The four goals allowed by Nappier are the most he has allowed in a single game this season.
NOTES
- Junior Kris Myllari (Kanata, Ontario) appeared in his 100th career game this afternoon having only missed one game since stepping foot on campus prior to the 2016-17 season.
- For the first time in program history the Nittany Lions registered a pair of shorthanded tallies as both Barratt and Larsson secured the first of their careers.
- With one goal and one assist on the afternoon Barratt secured his 12th multi-point effort of the season and the 15th of his career.
- With a pair of assists Sucese registered his fifth multi-point effort this season and the 19 th of his career. Sucese is now tied with Denis Smirnov (Moscow, Russia) for fourth on the Penn State all-time points list with 87 for his career while his 46 assists move him into a tie with Dylan Richard '17 for seventh on the all-time assists list.
- Berger is now tied with Ricky DeRosa '17 for second on the Penn State all-time games played list with 139 as he hasn't missed a single game in his four years as a Nittany Lion. Berger is just eight games shy of David Goodwin's program record of 147 games played.
- Ohio State held the slim 39-38 edge in shots while going 4-for-10 with the man-advantage including a 5-on-3 goal for the second-straight evening and a pair of goals during a 5-minute major penalty. Penn State went 0-for-3 on the power-play
- Penn State falls to 5-19-2 all-time against top-5 opponents and 1-11-1 in such games at Pegula Ice Arena.
NEXT UP
- Penn State travels to Ann Arbor for a single game against Michigan on Thursday before traveling to New York City to conclude the series against the Wolverines at Madison Square Garden as part of B1G Super Saturday at 7 p.m.