ST. PAUL, Minn. – Junior Kevin Wall (Penfield, N.Y.) tallied twice to led Penn State to a 4-1 victory against St. Thomas in non-conference action on Wednesday evening to complete the series sweep at the St. Thomas Ice Arena.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Penn State (9-6-0) opened the scoring as Wall collected the puck at the goal line after senior Ben Copeland (Edina, Minn.) and freshman Ryan Kirwan (DeWitt, N.Y.) won a battle on the half-wall. Wall then walked a defender before slipping the puck through the five-hole of Tommie net-minder Jacob Berger for the 1-0 lead at 3:02 of the first period.
- St. Thomas (1-15-0) evened the score early in the second period as Grant Loven went bar-down over the blocker of Nittany Lion sophomore net-minder Liam Souliere (Brampton, Ontario) on the powerplay for the 1-1 score just 51 ticks into the middle frame.
- The Nittany Lions regained the lead with a pair of goals just 54 seconds apart as sophomore Tyler Paquette (Collegeville, Pa.) dove across the crease from left to right to jam home his third goal of the weekend at the 9:36 mark before junior Connor MacEachern (Brooklin, Ontario) sniped home his eighth of the year from the slot at 10:30 for the 3-1 advantage.
- Penn State used a 4-on-3 man-advantage midway through the third period to push the score to 4-1 as Wall finished a rebound at the far post at 9:16 of the final frame.
GOALTENDING
Souliere moves to 3-2-0 on the year with the victory after stopping 12-of-13 shots while Berger falls to 0-3-0 this season following a 29-save performance in the loss.
NOTES
- With the opening goal, Penn State has now scored first in 11 of its 15 games this season improving to 8-3-0 when doing so.
- With a pair of assists, Copeland extends his point streak to six games which is a new career-long mark. Copeland has now registered at least one point in 10 of his last 11 games and leads Penn State with seven powerplay points. The senior also secured his fourth multi-point effort this season and the 15th of his career.
- Kirwan also extended his career-long point streak to five games with two assists while Wall also runs his point streak to five games which is a new career-long mark.
- Kirwan now has two multi-point games this season while his two assists are also a new career-best mark.
- Wall's 10 goals on the season are a new career-high surpassing the eight he had in 2020-21 and are tied for the Big Ten lead with Notre Dame's Max Ellis and Michigan's Matty Beniers, good for fifth in the country just two shy of the national lead.
- Wall also secured his third multi-goal game this season and the third of his career while also registering his fourth multi-point effort this season and the 11th of his career.
- Wall's 16 points this season are tied for fifth in the Big Ten and 18th nationally.
- With his third goal of the series Paquette has now registered a goal and a point in back-to-back games for the first time in his collegiate career.
- Senior Adam Pilewicz (Sewickley, Pa.) collected the primary assist on Paquette's goal and registered his first point in over two and a half years in the process dating back to an assist during the 2019 Big Ten Tournament against Wisconsin on March 9, 2019.
- Penn State improves to 8-2-0 on the year when scoring a powerplay goal and the Nittany Lions are now 8-1-0 when leading entering the third period.
- Penn State held the commanding 33-13 edge in shots on goal including marks of 13-3 and 11-4 in the first and third periods, respectively. Penn State also went 1-for-3 on the powerplay and 3-for-4 on the penalty kill.
- The Nittany Lions are also now 5-0-0 this season in games against teams they hadn't previously played prior to the 2021-22 campaign.
NEXT UP
Penn State returns home and resumes Big Ten play with a series against the Michigan State Spartans on December 3-4 at Pegula Ice Arena.
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.