MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – Unable to mount at late comeback the ninth-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions dropped game two of a Big Ten Conference weekend series against the Minnesota Golden Gophers, 3-1, earning a weekend split this evening from 3M Arena at Mariucci.
With the loss the Nittany Lions fall to 12-6-2 on the year and 4-5-1-1 in conference play while the Gophers improve to 7-8-4 overall and 4-3-3-0 in Big Ten play.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Penn State opened the scoring off a clean offensive zone draw as junior Brandon Biro (Sherwood Park, Alberta) slipped a pass back to senior Chase Berger (St. Louis, Mo.) in the slot and he fired past the blocker of Gopher net-minder Mat Robson for the 1-0 lead at 12:36 of the first period.
- Minnesota registered the equalizer just over three minutes later as Tyler Nanne finished off a fee from Ryan Zuhlsdorf for the 1-1 score at 15:55.
- The Gophers then grabbed the lead in the second period after a long shift in the offensive zone for Penn State turned into an odd-man rush the other way and Brent Gates Jr. finished off the feed from Rem Pitlick for the 2-1 advantage at 7:49 of the middle frame.
- Minnesota then extended the lead to a pair of goals after Jack Ramsey collected a rebound and skated through the crease from right to left lifting the puck of the far pad of Nittany Lion junior goaltender Peyton Jones (Langhorne, Pa.) for the 3-1 margin at 17:24.
- Rem Pitlick then hit the empty net to account for four unanswered goals by the Gophers and the 4-1 final.
GOALTENDING
Jones stopped 23 shots in the defeat to fall to 8-4-2 on the year while Robson improves to 5-4-4 after a 31 save performance.
NOTES
- Penn State held the slim 32-27 edge in shots on goal while going 0-for-1 with the man-advantage, Minnesota was 0-for-2 on the power-play.
- With his first period goal, Berger has now moved into a tie with Andrew Sturtz '18 for second on the Penn State all-time scoring list with 104 points while also pulling even with David Goodwin '17 for third in program history with 44 goals.
- Berger also went 14-5 on the draw as Penn State held the 34-25 advantage on faceoffs.
- Biro extends his point-streak to six games (2-6-8) after his first period assist and the junior has now registered at least one point in 10 of his last 11 games with three goals and 10 assists for 13 points over that span.
- Tonight marked the lowest goal output of the season for Penn State and just the second time all season the Nittany Lions have been held under three goals.
NEXT UP
- Penn State returns home as Big Ten play rolls along when the Michigan State Spartans visit Pegula Ice Arena on Friday and Saturday evening.