MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – Junior Evan Barratt (Bristol, Pa.) tied his career-high with three assists as No. 8 Penn State flew past Minnesota, 8-2, on Friday night in Big Ten Conference action at 3M Arena.
Penn State improves to 8-2-0 on the year and 4-1-0-0 in conference action with the win while Minnesota drops to 4-5-2 this season and 1-2-2-2 in Big Ten play.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- After a scoreless opening period, Penn State began the second period with three goals over the opening 4:51 racing out to the 3-0 lead.
- Junior Sam Sternschein (Syosset, N.Y.) got things started receiving a feed from sophomore Aarne Talvitie (Espoo, Finland) and the junior used some slick mitts for the finish as he was all alone on the doorstep for the 1-0 lead just 44 ticks into the middle frame.
- Just 40 seconds later it was senior Nate Sucese (Fairport, N.Y.) finding freshman Kevin Wall (Penfield, N.Y.) all alone in front of the net and he roofed his first collegiate goal for the 2-0 advantage at 1:24.
- The Nittany Lions then used the man-advantage to grab the 3-0 margin as Barratt ripped a slap-pass from the right circle in front to classmate Alex Limoges (Winchester, Va.) who was waiting for an easy redirect at the 4:51 mark.
- Penn State extended the lead further as Talvitie slaps the puck out of mid-air with the backhand and through the five-hole of Gopher net-minder Jack LaFontaine for the 4-0 lead at 10:07 of the period.
- Minnesota got one back as Jaxon Nelson roofed one over the blocker of PSU senior net-minder Peyton Jones (Langhorne, Pa.) from in tight for his first career goal and the 4-1 deficit at 12:18 of the second period.
- The Nittany Lions wasted little time regaining the four-goal cushion in the third period as senior Liam Folkes (Scarborough, Ontario) caught a lob pass from Barratt and skated in uncontested slipping the puck past the left pad of Gopher goaltender Jack LaFontaine for the 5-1 lead just 27 seconds into the stanza.
- Freshman Connor McMenamin (Collegeville, Pa.) then got in on the fun scoring his first career goal on the power-play as he redirected a point shot from senior Kris Myllari (Kanata, Ontario) to the back of the net at 6:51 for the 7-1 margin.
- Sampo Ranta inched the Gophers closer as he wired a shot past the glove of Jones just as a power-play was expiring for the 7-2 deficit at 9:30 of the third period.
- Sternschein added his second of the contest late in the third period as he ripped a shot off the post and in from the slot for the 8-2 lead at 15:20 of the frame.
GOALTENDING
Jones improves to 8-1-0 this season after a 25-save performance while LaFontaine falls to 1-3-1 after making 33 saves over the opening 41:15 of the contest before being relieved by freshman Justen Close who stopped seven pucks over the final 18:45.
NOTES
- Penn State held the commanding 48-27 advantage in shots while going 2-for-3 on the power-play and 1-for-1 on the penalty kill.
- The eight goals scored against the Gophers are the most in a single-game in program history against Minnesota. Penn State is now 10-2-0 in its last 12 games against Minnesota and improve to 4-9-0 all-time at Mariucci.
- The Nittany Lions are now a perfect 7-0-0 when scoring first and 6-0-0 when leading after the second period.
- Sternschein has scored at least one goal in four of his last five games and has taken over the team lead with six goals this season. The two goals mark just his second career multi-goal game and his first this season. It is also his third multi-point effort this season and the seventh of his career.
- With one goal and two assists, Talvitie ties his career-high with three points and secures his fourth multi-point game of the season and the seventh of his career.
- Both Barratt and Limoges each added multi-point efforts, the second-straight for Barratt and the 18th of his career with a trio of helpers. Limoges added a pair of goals and one assist for his first multi-point effort of the season and the 20th of his career. It was also his first multi-goal game this season and the eighth of his career.
- With his three points, Limoges is now tied with Casey Bailey for eighth on the Penn State all-time scoring list with 80 for his career while his 35 career goals are now just one shy of teammate Brandon Biro for ninth in program history.
- Folkes added an assist to go along with his third period goal marking his third multi-point effort this season and the 20th of his career. Myllari also registered his first multi-point effort this season and the eighth of his career with a pair of assists.
- Myllari passes Trevor Hamilton '18 for fifth on the Penn State all-time scoring list by a defenseman with 56 career points.
- With a single assist senior Denis Smirnov (Moscow, Russia) moves into a tie with Andrew Sturtz for fourth on the Penn State all-time scoring list with 104 career points.
- With his lone assist in the game junior Cole Hults (Stoughton, Wis.) has tied Erik Autio '18 for second on the Penn State all-time scoring list for a defenseman with 58 points for his career.
NEXT UP
Both teams return to 3M Arena tomorrow night to close out the weekend series with another 8 p.m. ET puck drop.
For more information on the 2019-20 season presented by the Penn State Bookstore: the Official Bookstore of Penn State Athletics, visit the men's hockey page at GoPSUsports.com or call 1-800-NITTANY Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.