In dominant fashion, Penn State was able to sweep Minnesota for its sixth straight win at home over the Golden Gophers, outscoring them by an aggregate 13-4 over the course of the weekend.
The series sweep enabled Penn State to gain a valuable six points in conference play, as they hopped over a pair of teams in the standings, moving closer towards having home-ice advantage in the Big Ten Tournament in March.
Friday's game saw Penn State jump out to a 3-0 lead in the first 13 minutes of play, forcing Minnesota to change goalies. The Nittany Lions would tack on another four goals on backup Eric Schierhorn, including a pair by Hobey Baker Award nominee Alex Limoges (Winchester, Va.).
"We continued our momentum from MSG, where it is really hard to play a perfect hockey game, but when we were at our worst, Peyton [Jones] was at his best," head coach Guy Gadowsky said after Friday's contest.
"I thought even though they scored a lot, the momentum that (Chase) Berger's line created was really key. Obviously they put the puck in the net, but even some of the shifts that they had just creating momentum for us was really big."
Gadowsky also harped on his team's ability to limit the number of shots that Jones faced. Over the final two periods of play in Friday's game, Penn State only allowed 14 shots to the Gophers.
"This definitely was, when you look at our shots against, one of our lowest totals I think recently, and I think (limiting Minnesota's space) is the reason for it," Gadowsky said. "Nice start, and we are going in the right direction, but now we have to be consistent with that."
Saturday saw Penn State dig a bit deeper to pull out the win. While the Nittany Lions trailed 2-1 midway through the second period, they exploded for five unanswered goals, including two in a 1:10 span in the middle stanza, as they notched a 6-2 win for the sweep.
Nate Sucese (Fairport, N.Y.) bookended the scoring for Penn State, and Gadowsky continued to praise the unsung way that Sucese goes about his play for the Nittany Lions.
"I mean you have to give him a lot of credit there," Gadowsky said. "Nate is the type of player, he's a game-changer with his speed and his skill. His second (goal) was a beauty. He scores goals that not many people in this league can the way he does it. He's a game changer and it was nice to see him have a great weekend, and the whole line did as well."
The second game also saw a fair share of replays, as a goal on each side was waved off via challenge in the opening frame. Gadowsky spoke postgame about the frequency of the replays and their impact on how the game shaped out.
"I don't like to see all the stoppages, but as it turned out that was a huge call by (Director of Operations) Alex Dawes for too many men," Gadowsky said.
"It went from being down one to Nate Sucese getting a breakaway a little later and being up one the other way. So I thought that was a huge play. Even though it was so early, it was a big play in the game."
As the replays mounted in Saturday's game, it certainly shifted momentum from both teams at different points. Penn State was able to convert of two of their four chances on the man-advantage and use that momentum to their advantage.
"It's easier to handle (replays) when they seem to be going your way," Gadowsky said.
"That was a big one at the start so I thought we did a good job. You have to give Minnesota a lot of credit, the way they came out. They played a much better game, a much tighter and more intense game. Any time that you are able to come out on top against the Gophers it's a good day."
