SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Notre Dame used four unanswered goals to defeat Penn State, 5-2, in Big Ten Conference action on Friday evening from Compton Family Ice Arena.
Penn State falls to 9-10-0 on the year and is now 7-10-0-2-1-0 in conference action while the Irish improve to 13-12-2 overall and 11-10-2-1-2 in the Big Ten.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Penn State wasted little time opening the scoring as sophomore Mason Snell (Courtice, Ontario) let rip from the far point and his blast beat Notre Dame net-minder Dylan St. Cyr over the right shoulder for the 1-0 score at 2:41 of the first period.
- The Irish responded as after a blocked shot Alex Steeves skated into the Penn State zone on an odd-man rush feeding Landon Slaggert at the goalmouth for the tap in equalizer and the 1-1 score at 4:10 of the opening frame.
- Snell added his second of the game midway through the middle frame giving the Nittany Lions the lead again as he went to feed a pass backdoor that hit off a Notre Dame skate and past St. Cyr for the 2-1 score at 10:18 of the period.
- Notre Dame again had the quick answer as just 93 seconds later Matt Steeves finished off a feed from Pierce Crawford to tie the contest again, 2-2, at 11:51 of the stanza.
- The Irish got their first lead of the game early in the third period as Max Ellis ripped a shot from between the rings past the blocker of Nittany Lion junior net-minder Oskar Autio (Espoo, Finland) for the 3-2 score at 3:24 of the frame.
- The hosts extended their lead as Zach Plucinski fired a rebound into a yawning net for the 4-2 margin at 7:29 of the third period.
- Notre Dame extended the margin on a strange play as a point shot from Jake Pivonka hit Nittany Lion defenseman Paul DeNaples (Moscow, Pa.) and DeNaples was then cross-checked to the neck area by Nate Clurman and the puck flutter over the head of Autio for the 5-2 score at 15:00 of the third period.
GOALTENDING
Autio falls to 8-7-0 on the year after making 29 saves while St. Cyr stopped 38-of-40 shots while improving to 10-8-1 this season.
NOTES
- Penn State held the 40-34 edge in shots on goal while going 1-for-1 on the penalty kill and 0-for-2 on the man-advantage.
- The victory for Notre Dame compiled with a Michigan victory over Minnesota locks in the three, four and five seeds in the upcoming Big Ten Tournament and means Penn State and Notre Dame will meet again next Sunday in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals at 12 p.m.
- With the Minnesota loss, Wisconsin now controls its own destiny and with a victory tomorrow against Michigan State will secure the no. 1 overall seed and the Big Ten regular-season championship that comes with it.
- Notre Dame improves to 12-6-3 all-time against Penn State and 7-3-1 at Compton Family Ice Arena.
- Penn State falls to 7-3-0 on the year when scoring first marking its second-straight loss when opening the scoring. This also marks the second-straight loss for the Nittany Lions this season when leading or tied entering the third period (8-2-0) with both games coming against Notre Dame.
- Snell collects just the second multi-point game of his career and his first multi-goal game marking his first goals since January 11 of last season in a game at Robert Morris.
- Sophomore Connor McMenamin (Collegeville, Pa.) earned his ninth assist of the season on Snell's first goal of the game marking a new single-season career-best and tying for the team lead.
NEXT UP
The two teams return to Compton Family Ice Arena tomorrow evening to conclude the season series and the regular season with a 5:30 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.