An Overdue Offensive Explosion Leads Men's Hockey Past No. 7 Michigan, 9-5An Overdue Offensive Explosion Leads Men's Hockey Past No. 7 Michigan, 9-5
CRAIG HOUTZ,

An Overdue Offensive Explosion Leads Men's Hockey Past No. 7 Michigan, 9-5

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Nittany Lions finally got off the 2020 schneid and it couldn't have come in a more Penn State Hockey way nearly breaking the goal lights with a 9-5 victory over No. 7 Michigan on Thursday evening in Big Ten Conference action from Pegula Ice Arena.

Penn State improves to 1-5-0 to start the year and 1-5-0 in conference action while Michigan falls to 5-3-0 on the year and 3-3-0-1 in Big Ten play.

HOW IT HAPPENED

  • Junior Aarne Talvitie (Espoo, Finland) wasted little time opening the coring for the hosts as he skated all the way down the near boards curving to the net before firing a bar-down beauty from below the left faceoff dot and over the right shoulder of Wolverine net-minder Strauss Mann for the 1-0 advantage just 47 ticks into the contest.
  • Penn State doubled its lead just under two minutes later as freshman Jared Westcott (Imperial, Mo.) collected his first collegiate goal for the 2-0 margin at 2:24.
  • Michigan cut the deficit in half on the ensuing shift as just 20 seconds later Nick Blankenburg took the puck all the way down the ice and beat Nittany Lion junior goaltender Oskar Autio (Espoo, Finland) over the blocker for the 2-1 score at 2:44 of the frame.
  • Blankenburg then evened the score with a powerplay tally at 14:09 for the 2-2 score.
  • The Wolverines wasted little time taking their first lead of the game as Cam York lifted a nifty backhander past Autio just 34 seconds into the second period for the 3-2 edge.
  • Penn State tied the score less than three minutes later as Talvitie fired home his second of the night on the powerplay after a gorgeous pass from sophomore Kevin Wall (Fairport, N.Y.) for the 3-3 score at 3:03 of the middle frame.
  • Again, Michigan had the response as Thomas Bordeleau finished down low for the 4-3 score at 5:18 of the second period.
  • The Nittany Lions would then rattle off four-consecutive goals over a ten-minute span to close out the period.
  • Freshman Jimmy Dowd Jr. (Point Pleasant Beach, N.J.) got things started with his first of the season as he tapped the puck into a yawning net for the 4-4 tie at 7:02 and exactly four minutes later senior Alex Limoges (Winchester, Va.) deposited the puck at the net-mouth during the powerplay for the 5-4 advantage at 11:02.
  • Junior Bobby Hampton (Middletown, N.J.) doubled the Penn State margin just 15 seconds later with his first as a Nittany Lion as he cleaned up the garbage by the far post for the 6-4 score at 11:17.
  • Freshman Chase McLane (Trenton, Mich.) finished off the second period onslaught with another powerplay tally as he stuffed the loose puck over the goal line at 17:13 of the second stanza.
  • Michigan cut the deficit back to two goals midway through the third period as Brendan Brisson finished off a feed from Bordeleau at 13:39 for the 7-5 score.
  • Hampton added an empty netter at 18:14 and senior Tim Doherty (Portsmouth, R.I.) ripped home a late powerplay goal after a fantastic pass from sophomore Connor MacEachern (Brooklin, Ontario) for the 9-5 final at 19:28.

GOALTENDING

  • Junior Oskar Autio (Espoo, Finland) secured his first win of the season moving to 1-3-0 after making 23 saves.
  • Michigan's Strauss Mann falls to 5-3-0 on the year after stopping 19 shots over the first 31:15 of the contest before being relieved by Erik Portillo who made 15 saves over the final 28:39.

NOTES

  • The Nittany Lions outshot Michigan 43-28 while going 4-for-6 on the powerplay including a perfect 3-for-3 in the second period. The Wolverines were 1-for-2 with the man-advantage.
  • The nine goals by Penn State are the most scored since also registering nine against Notre Dame on December 8, 2018 and tie the record for most goals scored in a conference game also dating back to that same game against the Irish.
  • The five second period goals tie the most ever in a single period and mark the first time Penn State has scored five goals in a period since October 11, 2019 against Sacred Heart. This marks the seventh time the Nittany Lions have scored five goals in a period, but the first time in conference play.
  • Penn State improves to 78-1-2 all-time when scoring five or more goals. The Nittany Lions have now scored seven or more goals in 24 games with a perfect 24-0-0 record.
  • The four power-play goals tie the second-most in a single game and it's the first time the Nittany Lions have scored four man-advantage tallies since October 31, 2019 against Wisconsin.
  • Thursday night's contest marks the first top-10 victory for the Nittany Lions since sweeping No. 7 Wisconsin on October 31 and November 1, 2019.
  • Penn State lead for 46:20 during Thursday night's contest after playing with a lead for just 88 seconds total in the first five games of the season.
  • 14 different Nittany Lions registered at least one point with eight players having multi-point nights led by Westcott with a career-best three points on one goal and two assists. The rookie's five points (1G, 4A) this season are tied for second on the team and tied for fifth in the Big Ten among freshmen.
  • The multi-point effort was the first of Westcott's career while freshmen classmates Dowd and McLane also enjoyed their first career multi-point efforts with one goal and one assist each.
  • Hampton also collected his first career multi-point and multi-goal effort with his two tallies, his first goals in over three years dating back to October 28, 2017 against UMass-Lowell.
  • Limoges registered his second multi-point effort of the season and the 29th of his career with one goal and one assist while MacEachern secured his first-ever multi-point effort with a career-best two assists.
  • Talvitie's two goals mark a career high as he registers the first multi-goal game of his career and his 10th multi-point game, first this season.
  • Doherty added one goal and one assist to secure his first multi-point effort as a Nittany Lion and the 19th of his career as he hits the 80-point mark for his collegiate career.
  • With his first period assist, Wall has now registered at least one point in five of the first six games this season and pushes his team lead in points to six, ranking tied for seventh in the Big Ten.

NEXT UP
Penn State remains home to close out the first semester of play as they host Arizona State for a pair of non-conference games on December 11 and 13.

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.