ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Penn State scored three unanswered goals in the second period to race out to a 3-1 lead, but No. 4 Michigan stormed back with three-straight goals of its own, the final two coming early in the third period to earn the 4-3 victory in Big Ten Conference action on Saturday evening inside Yost Ice Arena.
The Nittany Lions fall to 12-12-0 on the year and 3-11-0-1-1-0 in Big Ten play while the Wolverines improve to 18-6-1 overall and 9-5-0-0-2-0 in conference action with the victory. Michigan wins the season series winning all four games between the two teams this season.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- After a scoreless opening period, the Wolverines once again scored first this time with a shorthanded tally as a misplayed puck by senior goaltender Oskar Autio (Espoo, Finland) gave Michigan a 2-on-0 and after some back-and-forth passing it was Nolan Moyle finishing into a yawning net for the 1-0 edge at 4:13 of the middle frame.
- The Nittany Lions answered with the equalizer just over two minutes later as senior Ben Copeland (Edina, Minn.) slipped in a rebound at the far post after freshman Ryan Kirwan's (DeWitt, N.Y.) initial shot was turned aside at 6:34 of the second period.
- Penn State then grabbed its first lead of the weekend as sophomore Christian Sarlo (Lynbrook, N.Y.) ripped home the rebound of freshman Simon Mack's (Brockville, Ontario) offering for the 2-1 advantage at 10:15 of the second stanza.
- The visitors extended the margin to a pair of goals after junior Tyler Gratton (Pottstown, Pa.) went coast-to-coast and snuck a snapshot past the far pad of Wolverine net-minder Erik Portillo for the 3-1 score at the 14:46 mark.
- Michigan ended the Penn State scoring streak with a late period tally as just after a powerplay expired Matty Beniers redirected the puck past Autio for the 3-2 deficit at 18:45.
- The Wolverines found the equalizer just 59 seconds into the third period as Luke Hughes slipped behind the defense for the second time in two nights and beat Autio past the glove for the 3-3 score.
- Michigan took the lead midway through the final frame as Brendan Brisson collected a loose puck and fired it off the post and in for the 4-3 lead at the 8:09 mark.
GOALTENDING
Autio falls to 9-10-0 on the year after making 24 saves in the defeat while Portillo improves to 18-6-1 after stopping 44 shots on the night.
NOTES
- Penn State is now just 1-9-0 this season when allowing the first goal of the game and opponents have now opened the scoring in four-straight games, all losses by the Nittany Lions. This also marks just the third time this season in 14 games that Penn State has lost when holding the lead entering the third period.
- Penn State held the commanding 47-26 edge in shots on goal but went 0-for-3 with the man-advantage making them 0-for-7 over the weekend. Michigan was 0-for-1 on the powerplay.
- Copeland now has three goals in four career games against Michigan.
- The goal for Sarlo snaps a seven-game scoreless drought.
- Sophomore Tyler Paquette (Collegeville, Pa.) sees his career-long four-game point streak snapped as he was held off the stat sheet for just the third time in his last 11 games.
- Kirwan extends his point streak to four games after his second period assist and has at least one point in 10 of his last 12 games played.
- Penn State is now just 3-12-0 all-time at Yost and Michigan now leads the all-time series 22-14-1.
NEXT UP
The Nittany Lions return to Pegula Ice Arena next week to begin a brief four-game homestand with a Big Ten series against Wisconsin on Friday and Saturday evening.
For more information on the 2021-22 season presented by the Penn State Bookstore: 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.