ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Senior goaltender Peyton Jones (Langhorne, Pa.) stopped a season-high 42 shots as No. 6 Penn State defeated Michigan, 3-1, on Saturday night in Big Ten Conference action at Yost Ice Arena.
Penn State improves to 12-5-0 on the year and 7-3-0 in Big Ten play with the victory while the Wolverines fall to 6-10-2 overall and 2-7-1-0 in conference action with the loss. The win for the Nittany Lions snaps a nine-game losing streak at Yost Ice Arena as PSU now stands at 3-10-0 all-time in the building.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Penn State opened the scoring with a power-play tally as senior Nate Sucese (Fairport, N.Y.) was the beneficiary of some crisp passing and finished off a cross-ice feed from classmate Denis Smirnov (Moscow, Russia) for the 1-0 edge at 18:07 of the first period. The goal marked the first time Penn State has scored first at Yost in five games dating back to a 3-2 loss on March 10, 2017.
- Just over a minute later it was senior Liam Folkes (Scarborough, Ontario) starting a neutral zone rush with a pass to junior Alex Limoges (Winchester, Va.) who fed classmate Evan Barratt (Bristol, Pa.) below the left circle and he cut to the net finishing on his backhand for the 2-0 margin at the 19:24 mark.
- The Wolverines wasted little time taking advantage of a defensive zone turnover early in the second period as Luke Morgan ripped a shot past Jones from below the right dot for the 2-1 deficit just 29 ticks into the stanza.
- The Nittany Lions added the dagger as senior Denis Smirnov (Moscow, Russia) hit the empty net with just 53 seconds remaining for the 3-1 final.
GOALTENDING
Jones snaps a three-game losing skid improving to 11-4-0 on the year with his season-high 42 saves while Mann falls to 6-9-2 after stopping 31 shots in the loss.
NOTES
- Michigan held the 43-34 edge in shots on goal, but went 0-for-4 on the power-play while Penn State went 1-for-3 with the man-advantage.
- Penn State has now allowed one or fewer goals five times this season.
- Limoges extends his season-long point-streak to nine games, just one shy of his career-high while Barratt has now scored at least one goal in four of the last five games.
- Sucese added a third period assist to register his fifth multi-point effort this season and the 28th of his career while Smirnov notched his fourth multi-point effort this season and the 27th of his career with one goal and one assist on the night.
- Penn State improves to 10-1-0 on the year when scoring first and are now a perfect 9-0-0 when leading after two periods of play.
NEXT UP
Penn State closes out the semester and its season-long, six-game road trip with a trip to South Bend to battle Notre Dame next Friday and Saturday evening. Friday night's contest will be aired nationally on NHL Network with puck drop slated for 7 p.m.
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.