UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Senior captain Alex Limoges (Winchester, Va.) needed just 30 seconds in overtime to net the game-winning goal as Penn State came-from-behind to defeat Michigan State, 3-2, in Big Ten Conference action on Friday evening at Pegula Ice Arena.
Penn State improves to 6-7-0 on the year and 4-7-0-1-0-0 in conference action with the victory while the Spartans drop to 5-6-2 overall and 4-6-1-2-1-0 in the Big Ten with the loss.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Penn State opened the scoring cashing in on a turnover at the offensive blue line as Limoges found classmate Tim Doherty (Portsmouth, N.H.) who exhibited extreme patience before feeding freshman Christian Sarlo (Lynnbrook, N.Y.) for a tap-in score at the far post and the 1-0 lead at 7:01 of the opening frame.
- Josh Nodler evened the score early in the second period as he stole the puck at the blue line and sent a shot toward net that hit off a body and fluttered past PSU junior net-minder Oskar Autio (Espoo, Finland) for the 1-1 score at 4:01 of the stanza.
- The Spartans took the lead just 15 ticks into the third period as Mitchell Lewandowski sent a shot from behind the net that deflected off Autio and in for the 2-1 score.
- The Nittany Lions pulled even after pulling the goalie to skate 6-on-4 during a late powerplay as it was sophomore Connor MacEachern (Brooklin, Ontario) finishing off a beautiful feed from Limoges into a yawning net for the 2-2 score at 18:50 of the final frame.
- Penn State then won the opening draw in overtime and Limoges circled out of the zone dropping the puck to Doherty before racing down the right slot beating the MSU defender for the easy tip past MSU goaltender Drew DeRidder for the Golden Goal and 3-2 victory.
GOALTENDING
Autio stopped 26 shots to improve to 5-4-0 on the year while DeRidder falls to 5-6-2 overall after making 36 saves including 16 in each of the first two periods.
NOTES
- The Nittany Lions held the commanding 39-28 lead in shots while going 1-for-3 with the man-advantage and a perfect 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.
- Penn State also controlled the dot winning 41-of-74 (55.4 percent) faceoffs.
- The victory marks the third-straight 3-on-3 home win for the Nittany Lions as they improve to 18-9-22 in overtime games including a 4-1-2 mark in 3-on-3 overtime games.
- The Nittany Lions move to 5-1-0 when scoring first this season and are now 17-12-4 all-time against Michigan State including a 9-3-3 mark at Pegula Ice Arena.
- The extra-attacker goal was the first for Penn State since Tyler Gratton also scored one against the Spartans on January 24, 2020 during a 4-2 loss at Munn Ice Arena.
- With his eighth goal of the season, Limoges is now tied for the Big Ten lead while moving past Liam Folkes '20 for fifth on the all-time Penn State goals list with 49 for his career.
- While also adding a pair of assists, Limoges has moved past Denis Smirnov '20 and Brandon Biro '16 for fourth on the all-time Penn State points list at 117 while moving past Chase Berger '19 for fourth on the all-time assists list with 68 for his career.
- Limoges' 14 points this season are now tied for second in the Big Ten and the senior now has seven career game-winning goals as he moves into a tie three other Nittany Lions for fourth on the Penn State all-time game-winning goals list.
- Limoges secured his fifth multi-point game this season and the 32nd of his career.
- Doherty tied his career-high with three points on three assists marking his third multi-point effort of the season and the 21st of his career. The senior is now riding a season-long four-game point streak.
NEXT UP
Both teams return to Pegula Ice Arena tomorrow afternoon to conclude the season series with a 3 p.m. puck drop. The game will be streamed on BTN+.
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.