COLUMBUS, Ohio – The 16th-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions dropped their Big Ten opener to Ohio State, 5-2, inside Value City Arena on Friday night.
Penn State sees its four-game win streak snapped as the Nittany Lions fall to 6-2-0 on the year and 0-1-0 in the Big Ten while Ohio State improves to 5-2-0 overall and 2-1-0 in conference action.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Penn State opened the scoring as senior Ben Copeland (Edina, Minn.) skated behind the net and dropped a pass back to junior Kevin Wall (Penfield, N.Y.) who one-touched the puck into a yawning net at the near post for his Big Ten leading seventh goal of the season and the 1-0 edge at 11:05 of the first period.
- The Nittany Lions controlled the pace of play early in the second period but were unable to get another shot past Buckeye net-minder Jakub Dobes. Then in the span of about three and a half minutes late in the frame Kamil Sadlocha redirected a pair of shots from the point past PSU sophomore goaltender Liam Souliere (Brampton, Ontario) for the 2-1 lead heading into the second intermission.
- Ohio State extended its lead early in the third period with another redirect out front as this time it was Jake Wise getting his stick on a shot from the point for the 3-1 score at 3:47 of the final frame.
- The Buckeyes extended their lead again just 87 ticks later as Jaedon Leslie fired a shot over the glove of Souliere on an odd-man rush for the 4-1 lead at the 5:14 mark.
- OSU used a powerplay to make the score 5-1 as the puck went off Gustaf Westlund's body in front and past Souliere at 5:49 of the third period.
- Junior Connor MacEachern (Brooklin, Ontario) stopped the bleeding as he laced a shot over the blocker of Dobes on the powerplay for the 5-2 score at the 8:54 mark.
GOALTENDING
Dobes secures the victory improving to 5-1-0 on the year after making 32 saves while Souliere falls to 2-1-0 with the setback as he stopped 22-of-27 shots he faced in the game.
NOTES
- With his first period goal, Wall extends his point-streak to four games to tie his career-long streak established at the beginning of the 2020-21 season. Wall's seven goals lead the Big Ten and are tied for third in the nation.
- Copeland also extends his point-streak to four games, just one game shy of his career-best.
- The Nittany Lions are now outscoring teams 11-3 in the first period this season having scored at least one first period goal in seven of their first eight games.
- Penn State held the 34-27 edge in shots while each team went 1-for-2 on the powerplay.
- The loss is the first this season when the Nittany Lions have scored first as they drop to 6-1-0 on the year in such games.
NEXT UP
Both teams return to The Schott tomorrow evening to close out the weekend series with a 5 p.m. puck drop.
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.