UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Sophomore Connor MacEachern (Brooklin, Ontario) sent an absolute snipe over the right shoulder of Arizona State goaltender Evan DeBrouwer with just over a minute remaining in overtime to lead Penn State to a 3-2 victory over the 20th-ranked Sun Devils in non-conference action on Friday evening from Pegula Ice Arena.
Penn State improves to 2-5-0 on the year following the victory while the Sun Devils fall to 3-5-1 with the setback.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Penn State got on the board first in the second-consecutive game taking advantage of a powerplay midway through the first period to grab the 1-0 lead. Senior Tim Doherty (Portsmouth, R.I.) received a pass from MacEachern off the near wall and he showed tremendous patience and sent an unselfish pass to senior Alex Limoges (Winchester, Va.) for the tap in goal on the doorstep at 8:28 of the frame.
- The same duo reversed rolls late in the first period as it was Limoges keeping the puck in at the blueline and using patience before feathering a pass to Doherty in the slot for a one-timer that beat DeBrouwer over the right shoulder for the 2-0 edge at 18:22.
- Arizona State cut the deficit in half as Willie Knierim finished off a pass from PJ Marrocco during an odd-man rush for the 2-1 score at 13:28 of the second period.
- ASU seemed to have tied the contest at 17:48 of the second period as Jordan Sandhu ripped in a rebound, but Penn State challenged the play for offsides and the call on the ice was overturned keeping the score in favor of the hosts heading into the second intermission.
- Sean Dhooghe wasted little time in the third period potting the equalizer for the Sun Devils as he collected the puck off a DeBrouwer save and skated up the near boards on an odd-man rush firing a shot bar-down over the right shoulder of Nittany Lion junior goaltender Oskar Autio (Espoo, Finland) for the 2-2 score at 3:08 of the stanza.
- After a beautiful save by Autio on a breakaway at one end, Penn State sustained offensive zone pressure for over a minute before a bad change by Arizona State sent MacEachern and Limoges in on an odd-man rush and the former sent an absolute laser over the right shoulder of DeBrouwer for the game-winning goal at 3:57 of the extra session.
GOALTENDING
Autio made a season-high 32 saves on 24 shots to secure his second-straight victory and move to 2-3-0 on the year while DeBrouwer falls to 2-3-1 after stopping 47 pucks.
NOTES
- The Nittany Lions outshot ASU 50-34 while going 1-for3 on the powerplay and a perfect 4-for-4 on the penalty kill.
- Penn State also dominated the faceoff dot winning 39-of-62 draws (62.9 percent).
- The Nittany Lions are now 6-1-0 all-time against the Sun Devils with the last two games of the series both going into overtime and Penn State evening that record at 1-1-0.
- Limoges registered his third multi-point effort of the season and the 30th of his career with one goal and one assist while Doherty added one goal and one assist to secure his second multi-point effort as a Nittany Lion and the 20th of his career.
- MacEachern collects his second-straight multi-point effort and the second of his career with his goal and assist.
- Limoges takes over the team lead in points as he now has seven in seven games and while notching his 44th career goal he moves into a tie for first among active Big Ten players and second nationally. He also ties David Goodwin '17 for seventh on the Penn State all-time goals list while moving past Denis Smirnov '20 and into fifth on the all-time assists list.
- Penn State is now 2-1-0 on the year when scoring first as the Nittany Lions secure their first regulation overtime win since a 2-1 victory at Michigan State on January 20, 2020.
- The overtime victory was also the first at Pegula Ice Arena since Liam Folkes' Golden Goal to defeat Wisconsin 4-3 in the decisive game during a best-of-three Big Ten Quarterfinal on March 10, 2019.
NEXT UP
Both teams take Saturday off and return to Pegula Ice Arena on Sunday afternoon to wrap up the series with a 2 p.m. 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.