UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State used a pair of second period tallies and played sound defense all night to earn its first Big Ten series sweep of the season on Saturday afternoon with a 3-1 victory of Michigan State at Pegula Ice Arena.
Penn State improves to 7-7-0 on the year and 5-7-0-1-0-0 in conference action moving out of the basement as they now stand tied for fourth with Michigan, however, the Wolverines still play the Buckeyes later Saturday evening. The Spartans drop to 5-7-2 overall and 4-7-1-2-1-0 in the Big Ten with the loss.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Penn State opened the scoring for the second-consecutive game as senior Evan Bell (Livonia, Mich.) snuck a sharp angle shot through MSU net-minder Drew DeRidder from below the left circle for the 1-0 lead at 4:45 of the first frame.
- Charlie Combs evened the game for the Spartans late in the first period as a loose puck found him in the low slot and he fired it into a yawning net for the 1-1 score at 17:34 of the stanza.
- The Nittany Lions regained the lead in the waning moments of a powerplay as sophomore Kevin Wall (Penfield, N.Y.) found junior Aarne Talvitie (Espoo, Finland) on the doorstep for the tap-in score at 2-1 edge at 5:57 of the second period.
- Penn State extended the lead as this time it was Wall banging home a rebound by the near post off a Talvitie shot for the 3-1 score at 13:02 of the middle frame.
GOALTENDING
- Junior Oskar Autio (Espoo, Finland) was solid between the pipes all night making 21 saves including 11 in the final period while protecting the lead while improving to 6-4-0 on the year.
- DeRidder stopped 32-of-35 shots in a losing effort and falls to 5-7-2 on the year.
NOTES
- The Nittany Lions held the commanding 35-22 lead in shots while going 1-for-2 with the man-advantage and a perfect 3-for-3 on the penalty kill surrendering just one shot to the Spartans while a man down. Penn State was a perfect 6-for-6 on the kill over the weekend.
- Penn State also controlled the dot winning 30-of-57 (52.6 percent) faceoffs.
- The Nittany Lions are now 7-2-0 in their last nine games after starting the season 0-5-0. Their seven victories since December are tied with Minnesota for the most in the Big Ten and the seventh-most in the nation over that time span.
- The Nittany Lions move to 6-1-0 when scoring first this season and are now 18-12-4 all-time against Michigan State including an impressive 10-3-3 mark at Pegula Ice Arena. Penn State finishes the season series with the Spartans 3-1-0-1 earning eight of the possible 12 points.
- Freshman Christian Berger (St. Louis, Mo.) secured his first collegiate point with the secondary assist on Talvitie's goal.
- With one goal and one assist each, Wall and Talvitie secure their fourth and third multi-point games of the season, respectively. For Talvitie it marks the 12th of his career and for Wall it is his fifth.
NEXT UP
Penn State remains home for a Thursday-Friday series against the No. 12 Wisconsin Badgers next week with both games streaming 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.