No. 15 Men's Hockey Tripped Up by No. 14 WisconsinNo. 15 Men's Hockey Tripped Up by No. 14 Wisconsin
Mark Selders

No. 15 Men's Hockey Tripped Up by No. 14 Wisconsin

MADISON, Wis. – Sophomore Kevin Wall (Penfield, N.Y.) scored for the third-straight game to open the season but the 15th-ranked Nittany Lions fell to No. 14 Wisconsin, 6-3, in Big Ten Conference action on Monday evening from LaBahn Arena.

Penn State drops to 0-3-0 to start the year while Wisconsin improves to 3-2-0.

HOW IT HAPPENED

  • Penn State opened the scoring for the first time this season as Wall intercepted a pass at his defensive blue-line and skated in on a breakaway beating Badger net-minder Robbie Beydoun past the blocker for the 1-0 edge at 8:02 of the first period.
  • The Badgers responded just 88 seconds later as Sam Stange ripped a shot over the glove of sophomore goaltender Oskar Autio (Espoo, Finland) for the 1-1- score at 9:30 of the frame.
  • Wisconsin then took the lead as Jack Gorniak laced a shot from the high slot past the glove of Autio for the 2-1 margin at 14:31 of the opening stanza.
  • The Badgers extended their lead as Stange went bar down for the second time at 5:54, but the Nittany Lions had the answer this time as senior Tim Doherty (Portsmouth, R.I.) finished out front after a great feed from classmate Alex Limoges (Winchester, Va.) for the 3-2 score just 15 ticks later.
  • Wisconsin regained the two-goal advantage early in the third period as Brock Caufield redirected the puck out front off a feed from Linus Weissbach for the 4-2 score at 5:13 of the frame.
  • Brother Cole Caufield stretched the lead again just over two minutes later with a powerplay goal as he was left all alone in the slot pushing the margin to 5-2 at 7:16 of the final stanza.
  • Cole Caufield then sent a beautiful no look pass back across the front of the net and Linus Weissbach had a yawning net for the 6-2 lead at 10:40 of the third period.
  • Penn State got one back with less than a minute remaining in the third period as Wall sent a pass from behind the net to classmate Connor McMenamin (Collegeville, Pa.) who finished off the near post for the 6-3 final.

GOALTENDING

  • Autio falls to 0-2-0 on the year after making 14 saves while Beydoun improves to 3-2-0 after stopping a career-high 49 shots.

NOTES

  • The Nittany Lions outshot the Badgers 52-20 including a commanding 24-2 edge in the second period but went 0-for-3 on the man-advantage while Wisconsin was 1-for-3 on the powerplay.
  • Penn State registered 50+ shots for the first time since February 21 of last season.
  • With one goal and one assists Wall secured just his second career multipoint effort, his first of 2020-21.
  • Wall extends his career-best goal scoring streak to four games after scoring the first goal of his career against a team other than Minnesota.
  • Wisconsin cuts into its deficit in the all-time series, which now stands at 20-14-3 in favor of Penn State.

NEXT UP
Both teams return to LaBahn Arena tomorrow evening to close out the series with another 6 p.m. puck drop. The game will once again be broadcast on the Big Ten Network.

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.