Strong Third Period Leads Men's Hockey Past No. 7 Minnesota, 5-3Strong Third Period Leads Men's Hockey Past No. 7 Minnesota, 5-3
Craig Houtz

Strong Third Period Leads Men's Hockey Past No. 7 Minnesota, 5-3

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – Penn State scored twice in a 58-second span early in the third period to secure a, 5-3, victory over No. 7 Minnesota in Big Ten Conference action on Friday evening inside 3M Arena at Mariucci.

Penn State improves to 7-5-0 on the year and 1-4-0 in the Big Ten following the win while the Gophers drop to 7-6-0 on the year and 4-2-0-0-1-0 in conference action.

HOW IT HAPPENED

  • Penn State opened the scoring as freshman Simon Mack (Brockville, Ontario) sent a centering pass in front of the crease and classmate Ryan Kirwan (DeWitt, N.Y.) redirected it home for the 1-0 edge at 6:41 of the first period.
  • Minnesota responded with less than a minute remaining in the opening stanza as Matthew Knies collected his own rebound near the right post and slotted it past Nittany Lion senior net-minder Oskar Autio (Espoo, Finland) for the 1-1 score with just 32.9 ticks left on the clock.
  • The Gophers used a powerplay early in the second period to grab the 2-1 lead as Jaxon Nelson roofed one at the far post at the 3:32 mark.
  • PSU responded with a man-advantage tally of its own just over a minute later as junior Connor MacEachern (Brooklin, Ontario) sniped a wicked wrister into the back of the net from the slot for the 2-2 score at 4:57 of the middle frame.
  • The Nittany Lions regained the lead after a successful penalty kill as an errant shot by Minnesota rang around the boards right to senior Ben Copeland (Edina, Minn.) exiting the Sin Bin and he skated in uncontested lacing a shot past the blocker of Gopher goaltender Jack LaFontaine for the 3-2 advantage at 10:34 of the second period.
  • Minnesota once again evened the score with the help of a powerplay goal as Nelson roofed his second of the game after collecting a loose puck in front of the crease for the 3-3 score at the 18:58 mark.
  • Penn State started the third period strong scoring twice in 58 seconds as sophomore Christian Sarlo (Lynbrook, N.Y.) tipped a point shot from MacEachern into the back of the net at 2:10 before sophomore Chase McLane (Trenton, Mich.) deposited a centering feed ilighting the lamp for the 5-3 score at the 3:08 mark.

GOALTENDING

  • Autio improves to 5-3-0 on the season after stopping 32-of-35 shots while LaFontaine drops to 7-6-0 after a 21 save performance in the setback.
  • Autio also secured his third assist of the season on McLane's goal tying Eamon McAdam for the second most assists in a single-season by a goaltender in Penn State history, just one shy of Peyton Jones' '20 program record of four from the 2017-18 season.

 
NOTES

  • The win is the second for the Nittany Lions this season against a top-10 opponent as they also defeated then-No.6 North Dakota on October 30.
  • Penn State is now 16-17-1 all-time against Minnesota, but 13-4-1 dating back to a semifinal win in the 2017 Big Ten Tournament.
  • Penn State improves to 87-1-2 all-time when scoring five or more goals including a 5-0-0 mark this season and have now won 29-straight instances when reaching the five goal number.
  • Penn State's first goal of the game marks the ninth time in 12 games the Nittany Lions have scored first, and it snapped a streak of six-consecutive games of the Gophers drawing first blood. The Nittany Lions are now 7-2-0 this season when scoring first.
  • With his second period goal, Copeland extends his now career-best goal streak to three games as the senior has now registered at least one point in seven of his last eight games with goals in four of his last six.
  • MacEachern collected his fourth multi-point effort of the season and the eighth of his career with his one goal and one assist evening.
  • With a pair of assists sophomore Jimmy Dowd Jr. (Point Pleasant Beach, N.J.) secured his first multi-point effort of the season and the third of his career tying his career-high in assists with two.
  • Minnesota held the 35-26 edge in shots on goal while going 2-for-5 on the man-advantage, however, Penn State was a perfect 2-for-2 on the powerplay on Friday night.
  • After being outscored 20-13 in the third period entering the contest, Penn State outscored Minnesota 2-0 over the final 20 minutes on Friday night.
  • The Nittany Lions are now 6-0-0 this season when a freshman scores a goal.

NEXT UP
Both teams return to Mariucci tomorrow evening to close out the weekend series with puck drop slated for 9:00 p.m. ET.

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.