COLUMBUS, Ohio – Senior Brandon Biro (Sherwood Park, Alberta) scored twice while adding an assist for a three-point night as No. 9 Penn State defeated No. 13 Ohio State, 6-3, in Big Ten Conference action on Saturday night at Value City Arena.
The Nittany Lions improve to 18-9-3 on the year and 10-7-3-0 in conference play while Ohio State falls to 16-10-4 overall and 9-8-3-1 in Big Ten action. For the moment, Penn State has moved back into sole possession of first place in the conference standings with 33 points, two points clear of Ohio State with the outcome of the Minnesota-Michigan State game still in question.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Nittany Lions opened the scoring as Biro fed classmate Denis Smrinov (Moscow, Russia) sneaking backdoor on the power-play for the 1-0 edge at 7:23 of the first period.
- Penn State extended the lead to 2-0 after junior Alex Limoges (Winchester, Va.) punched a Liam Folkes (Scarborough, Ontario) rebound past OSU net-minder Tommy Nappier at 7:50 of the second period.
- PSU continued to press as Biro fed a puck out front that deflected off a Buckeye skate and into the back of the net to the left side of the crease for the 3-0 margin at 11:36 of the middle frame.
- The Buckeyes stopped the run with a power-play tally from Carson Meyer at the 14:03 mark of the second stanza as he found himself all along in front after a faceoff win.
- The Nittany Lions regained the three-goal lead late in the period as junior Evan Barratt (Bristol, Pa.) one-timed a Cole Hults (Stoughton, Wis.) offering at the right circle for the beating Nappier past the right pad for the 4-1 advantage at the 19:45 mark.
- OSU cut into the deficit early in the third period as Ronnie Hein blasted a shot that shattered a Nittany Lion stick before deflecting off another PSU player and over the shoulder of senior goaltender Peyton Jones for the 4-2 score at the 1:14 mark of the period.
- The Buckeyes then cut the deficit to a single goal with the extra attacker on as Ryan O'Connell ripped a shot from the slot that deflected off a body and in for the 4-3 score at the 17:42 mark.
- Penn State answered as both Biro and Hults hit the empty net 65 seconds apart for the 6-3 final.
GOALTENDING
Jones finished the game with 28 saves improving to 16-8-2 on the year while Nappier falls to 13-9-3 after stopping 27 shots.
NOTES
- Penn State held the slim 33-31 edge in shots while going 2-for-2 on the power-play and 1-for-3 on the penalty kill. The Nittany Lions were a perfect 3-for-3 on the man-advantage this weekend.
- Penn State is now 5-1-2 in its last eight games at Value City Arena and improve to 15-1-2 this season when scoring first and a perfect 14-0-2 when leading after two periods.
- Sucese and Folkes registered their eighth and fifth multi-point games this season and the 31st and 22nd of their respective careers. With a trio of assists, Sucese tied his career-high marking his fourth career game with three helpers.
- Folkes is now just a single point shy of becoming the seventh player in program history to reach 100 points as he currently stands at 99 for his career.
- Both Barratt and Biro each registered multi-point games their eighth and sixth this season and the 25th and 29th of their careers, respectively. Biro tied his career-high with three points on a pair of goals and one assist marking his second multi-goal game of the season and the third for his career.
- Hults and Limoges each added a goal and an assist collecting their eighth and seventh multi-point efforts this season and the 20th and 26th of their respective careers.
- Limoges joins Folkes at 99 career points after his two-point effort and three-point weekend.
- With his 50th career goal on Saturday night, Smirnov became the fourth Nittany Lion in program history to hit that mark.
- Penn State scored multiple empty net goals for the first time since December 11, 2015 in a 6-3 win against Princeton.
- With his empty net goal Hults has a new single-season career high with seven and with 16 for his career he has moved past Luke Juha '16 and into a tie with Vince Pedrie for second all-time at Penn State for defensemen. His seven goals this season are also the most in the Big Ten for defensemen.
NEXT UP
The Nittany Lions remain on the road next weekend with a pair of games against Wisconsin on Friday and Saturday evening.
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.