UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Sophomore Christian Sarlo (Lynnbrook, N.Y.) potted the eventual game-winning goal while adding an assist to help Penn State complete the sweep of LIU with a 5-2 victory in non-conference action on Monday evening inside Pegula Ice Arena.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Penn State (2-0-0) opened the scoring for the second-straight game with a power-play tally as sophomore Christian Berger (St. Louis, Mo.) fired one through the five-hole of Shark netminder Kris Carlson for the 1-0 edge at 9:24 of the first period
- Just over two minutes later, Sarlo stole the puck along the half wall and fed classmate Xander Lamppa (Rochester, Minn.) who was all alone in front, and he lifted a backhanded shot into the upper half of the net for the 2-0 margin at the 11:45 mark.
- LIU (0-2-0) cut the deficit in half with a power-play goal of its own as Jordan Di Cicco ripped a rebound past the blocker of PSU senior goaltender Oskar Autio (Espoo, Finland) for the 2-1 score at 14:40 of the opening stanza.
- The Nittany Lions regained the two-goal lead early in the second period as Sarlo received a pass from senior Paul DeNaples (Moscow, pa.) as soon as he exited the penalty box and he skated in on a breakaway beating Carlson below the blocker for the 3-1 score just 56 ticks into the frame.
- Penn State extended the lead further as sophomore Chase McLane (Trenton, Mich.) forced an LIU turnover in the offensive zone and freshman Danny Dzhaniyev (Brooklyn, N.Y.) let loose from the right circle sneaking a shot through Carlson for the 4-1 lead at 17:10 of the middle frame.
- The hosts continued to pile it on as a beautiful passing display by sophomore classmates Connor MacEachern (Brooklin, Ontario) and Kevin Wall (Penfield, N.Y.) set up senior Clayton Phillips (Edina, Minn.) for a one-touch goal into a yawning net from the left faceoff dot at 5:42 of the third period.
- The Sharks wouldn't go away quietly as Max Balinson finished off a pass from Marty Westhaver for the 5-2 deficit at 10:34 of the final frame.
GOALTENDING
- Autio improves to 2-0-0 on the year after making 17 saves while Carlson falls to 0-2-0 after allowing four goals on 25 shots over the opening 40 minutes before being relieved by Vinnie Purpura in the third period.
- Purpura stopped 20 of the 21 shots he faced over the final 20 minutes of action.
GADOWSKY POSTGAME
Q: It's not uncommon for your program to put a lot of shots on net, but sometimes that can lead to the other team getting a lot of opportunities as well, but that wasn't the case here tonight. How were you guys able to do that?
A: I thought we played much more to our identity and spirit specifically. When you play in the other end, it's often what you do to get in the end and then when you play in the other team's end, you usually don't give up a lot of shots. It's retrievals and it's sustaining that pressure. I thought we did a really, really good job of that today.
Q: [Danny Dzhaniyev] seemed like he had quite the game tonight, even the goal aside. What did you think of him tonight?
A: I love how he won pucks. I believe his goal started by him hunting down pucks. I think he does that really well, and I thought he did that last night pretty well, too, but tonight, he was better at that than he ever was last night. He's fun to watch, not just his skill, and he's going to score a lot of goals, but I really like how he hunts for pucks and it fits us pretty well. I think he's going to be a great player for this program.
Q: What did you think about the quality of your chances tonight? You had 46-shots, five goals, do you guys feel good about that clip that you are shooting goals at?
A: Yes, I still feel that in a lot of cases, quantity will equal goals. It doesn't happen all the time, but over the course of a season, the more opportunities you get, the more you're going to score. They don't always go in. Sometimes Grade A's don't go in either, but I liked how we played it, that is more towards identity to play for volume, and when you get 46-shots, you're usually going to get a few and that's what happened tonight.
NOTES
- Penn State held the commanding 46-19 edge in shots on goal including an eye-popping 21-9 clip in the third period.
- The Nittany Lions registered a powerplay goal for the second consecutive game, finishing the night 1-for-4 with the man-advantage while going 3-for-4 on the penalty kill.
- Penn State again controlled the dot winning 29-of-52 faceoffs (55.8 percent) led by sophomore McLane at 71.4 percent (10-for-14)
- With one goal and one assist each, Sarlo registers his third career multi-point game while Lamppa collects the first of his career.
NEXT UP
Penn State remains home with a quick turnaround as they welcome Canisius to Pegula Ice Arena for a weekend series on Friday at 7 p.m. and Saturday at 1 p.m.
For more information on the 2021-22 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.