UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The eighth-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions needed a late goal from freshman Connor McMenamin (Collegeville, Pa.) in order to secure a 3-2 victory against Niagara on Friday evening in non-conference action at Pegula Ice Arena.
The win pushes Penn State to 14-6-0 this season while the Purple Eagles fall to 4-10-3 with the setback.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Penn State opened the scoring as senior Nikita Pavlychev (Yaroslavl, Russia) chipped the puck through a defender in the neutral zone off a pass from sophomore Paul DeNpales (Moscow, Pa.) and skated through the slot making Purple Eagle net-minder Chad Veltri go one way before shooting back across the grain for the 1-0 lead at 4:42 of the first period.
- Niagara evened the game as Luke Edgerton won a puck battle in the neutral zone and skated through the near circle ripping a shot over the shoulder of PSU senior net-minder Peyton Jones (Langhorne, Pa.) for the 1-1 score at 9:14 of the opening frame.
- The Nittany Lions regained the lead with a power-play goal early in the second period as after a blocked shot junior Sam Sternschein (Syosset, N.Y.) collected the loose puck in the slot, turned and fired a far-side past the glove of Veltri from below the left dot for the 2-1 advantage at 3:08 of the frame.
- Penn State extended its lead late in the third period as McMenamin used a strong fore-check to cause a turnover in the offensive zone and he skated down the far half-wall cutting to the front of the net before depositing the puck under the glove of Veltri for the 3-1 margin at 15:12 of the frame.
- However just 24 seconds later a bouncing puck in front of Jones found the back of the Nittany Lions net off the stick of Ryan Naumovski for the 3-2 deficit at the 15:36 mark.
GOALTENDING
Bad bounce aside, Jones was strong in net all night stopping 26 shots while improving to 13-5-0 on the year. Veltri made 33 saves in the defeat to fall to 0-5-1.
GADOWSKY POSTGAME
Opening Statement
It's good to be back in Pegula. Obviously, we didn't play our best, you have to give Niagara a lot of credit, especially in the third. They absolutely beat us in the third and you have to give them credit for that. At this time of year every win is a good win, but I think we all know we can do better.
Q: How big of an emotional swing was it from [Connor] McMenamin's goal to Niagara scoring 24 seconds later?
A: Yeah, I mean for them it was fantastic. It was shocking, I'll tell you that, it was an emotional swing. Again, give them a lot of credit, I think that was a big boost for them. I'm not going to say we handled it great because we didn't let any goals in, but they certainly had their chances.
Q: In the absence of Aarne Talvitie and Alex Limoges, what does it mean to get a contribution for Connor McMenamin on the score sheet?
A: That was a huge play, I think the defensive play was as big as the goal. That was a big-time play, and that's huge. I think we do have a next man up mentality and that's what we certainly needed tonight, that's for sure.
Q: Have you seen your freshman class, maybe specifically Connor McMenamin, start to grow a bit? How is their development coming along?
A: They started extremely well, they were one of our bright spots [early on]. I honestly think that I'm looking forward to them showing that they've come a long way in the second half of the season. It's often hard in the beginning because they're freshman, but they started off great. I think that line specifically probably expects a little more out of themselves after the start to the season they had, so we're looking forward to seeing them develop a little more in the second half of the season.
Q: When Sam Sternschein scores, the team is 8-0, is that a coincidence and how does he set the tone for your offense?
A: I guess we need him to score a lot more. He's a guy that shoots the puck extremely well, when he's shooting, it encourages people to go to the net and as a team that's how we were successful offensively for a long time here, it's something that's lacking a bit. So, with Sam, he's a shooter, he has the puck on his stick a lot, you know he's going to get shots and get to the net. It's certainly encouraging for the whole team.
Q: What did you think of Peyton [Jones] tonight?
A: I thought it was a tough game to play. I thought we actually played really well in the first period, except we gave up two really bad odd-man rushes that were tough plays. I thought it was a really tough game to play and in the end, we were poor in the third period, and he was great. He did his job.
NOTES
- Penn State held the 36-28 edge in shots on goal while going 1-for-3 on the power-play and 1-for-1 on the penalty kill.
- Sternschein's 10 goals are a new single-season career-high and he now has five multi-point games this season and nine for his career. PSU is also now a perfect 8-0-0 when the junior scores a goal.
- The Nittany Lions improve to 11-1-0 on the year when scoring first and move to a perfect 10-0-0 when leading after two periods of play.
NEXT UP
Both teams return to Pegula Ice Arena tomorrow night to conclude the season series with a 6 p.m. 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.