UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – No. 6 Penn State battled, but dropped a 4-3 decision to No. 11 Ohio State on Saturday night in Big Ten Conference action at Pegula Ice Arena as the Buckeyes earn the weekend split.
Penn State falls to 10-3-0 on the year and 6-2-0-0 in conference action with the setback while The Buckeyes improve to 7-4-1 this season and 3-3-0-0 in Big Ten play.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Penn State opened the scoring with a strong forecheck as junior Alex Limoges (Winchester, Va.) stripped the puck from CJ Regula behind the OSU net and fed senior Liam Folkes (Scarborough, Ontario) for the easy backdoor tap in and the 1-0 lead at 10:54 of the first period.
- The Buckeyes evened the score heading into the first intermission as Tanner Laczynski got behind the defense during a span of 4-on-4 hockey and he lifted the puck over the blocker of PSU senior net-minder Peyton Jones (Langhorne, Pa.) for the 1-1 score at the 19:26 mark.
- The Nittany Lions regained the lead early in the second period as junior Evan Barratt (Bristol, Pa.) banged home a loose puck off the end boards near the far post for the 2-1 edge at 2:53 of the middle frame.
- Ohio State would then grab it's first lead of the series with a pair of goals in just over a two-minute span as Penn State got caught in a change during a power-play and Quinn Preston made them pay with the equalizer at 9:02 before Gordi Myer split the defense entering the zone and sniped past Jones' glove for the 3-2 advantage at 11:25.
- OSU regained the one-goal lead as Gustaf Westlund threw a change-up on net from the right circle the fooled Jones and snuck over his left shoulder for the 4-3 lead at 13:04 of the third period.
GOALTENDING
Jones drops to 10-2-0 on the year after making 30 saves in the setback while Ryan Snowden earns his first career victory in his first career appearance after replacing Tommy Nappier in the third period. Nappier stopped 18 shots while Snowden collected 15 saves in the win.
GADOWSKY POSTGAME
Opening Statement:
They were as stifling as a team as we have played for sure. They dominated us in faceoffs and I don't know what the final numbers are but they dominated us in odd-man rushes and they deserved to win.
How much weight do you put into faceoffs?
We do. I feel that it is an important statistic. I know some analytics guys don't, but I do. We'd rather start the shift off having the puck than chasing it and it seemed like we were chasing it a lot tonight.
What lead uptake of non-man rushes?
This is one of the times where the coaches are actually really looking forward to watching the tape to learn why we got dominated in non-man rushes and why we couldn't get our game going. Got to give OSU a lot of credit but I want to know why.
NOTES
- Penn State held the slim 36-34 edge in shots on goal while going 1-for-2 on the power-play. Ohio State was 1-for-3 with the man-advantage.
- The Nittany Lions have now scored at least one power-play goal in five-straight games and seven-of-eight.
- Limoges extends his season-long point-streak to five games, all multi-point games, after a pair of assists while Folkes has now scored a goal in four-straight games for the first time in his career while extending his point-streak to five games, one shy of his career-high.
- Limoges now had five multi-point games this season and 22 for his career while Folkes secures his fourth of the season and 21st of his career.
- Barratt also extends his season-long point-streak to five games after his second period goal.
- Sternschein sees his career-long four-game goal streak snapped as he was held off the scoresheet.
- Sucese extended his season-long point-streak to five games with a second period assist and now has 20 points on the season and is only six shy of the Penn State all-time record of 128.
NEXT UP
Penn State hits the road for a pair of non-conference battles as part of the Turkey Leg Classic in Massachusetts with a 7 p.m. tilt on Friday at Merrimack followed by a 6 p.m. contest against UMass-Lowell on Saturday night.
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.