MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – The tenth-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions dropped their opening game of the 2020-21 season on the road at No. 11 Minnesota on Thursday night as the Gophers secured the 4-1 victory at 3M Arena at Mariucci.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- After a scoreless first period, Minnesota opened the scoring at 5:22 of the middle frame as Jonny Sorenson jammed home a loose puck out front for the 1-0 score.
- Another bouncing puck found the stick of Scott Reedy in the slot and he ripped a shot over the glove of junior net-minder Oskar Autio (Espoo, Finland) for the 2-0 edge midway through the second period.
- Sophomore Kevin Wall (Penfield, N.Y.) cut the deficit in half late in the second period using some silky mitts after receiving a perfect pass from classmate Connor McMenamin (Collegeville, Pa.) to beat Gopher goaltender Jack LaFontaine past the glove at 19:33 of the stanza.
- Minnesota regained the two-goal margin early in the third period as Cullen Munson slipped the puck past the right pad of Autio after the puck bounced hard off the end wall for the 3-1 lead at 3:53 of the frame.
- The Gophers extended the lead as Sampo Ranta burned the Nittany Lion defense and carried the puck from his backhand to his forehand sliping it past the far pad of Autio for the 4-1 advantage at 10:43 of the third period.
GOALTENDING
- Autio played well between the pipes stopping numerous odd-man rushes throughout the night making 24 saves overall, but falls to 0-1-0 on the year while LaFontaine improves to 1-0-0 after stopping 26-of-27 shots.
- The victory for LaFontaine is the first of his career against the Nittany Lions as he improves to 1-3-1 all-time against Penn State.
NOTES
- Minnesota held the slim 28-27 edge in the shot department while going 0-for-2 on the powerplay. Penn State was 0-for-3 with the man-advantage.
- The Gophers controlled the dot winning 37-of-55 faceoffs on the night.
- Wall now has a two-game goal scoring streak and has scored all three of his career goals against the Gophers.
- Penn State drops to 5-3-1 all-time in season openers and 5-3-0 in Big Ten openers.
- Minnesota takes the slim 16-15-1 lead in the all-time series.
NEXT UP
Both teams return to 3M Arena tomorrow afternoon to close out the series with a 4 p.m. ET puck drop.
For more information on the 2020-21 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.