UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Freshman Ryan Kirwan (DeWitt, N.Y.) and junior Connor McMenamin (Collegeville, Pa.) each score twice to lift Penn State to a 4-1 victory against Wisconsin in Big Ten Conference action on Friday evening inside Pegula Ice Arena.
The Nittany Lions snap a four-game losing streak and improve to 13-12-0 on the year and 4-11-0-1-1-0 in Big Ten play while the Badgers drop to 8-14-3 this season and 5-9-1-1-1-0 in conference action with the loss.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Penn State opened the scoring for the first time in five games taking advantage of a 5-on-3 powerplay as Kirwan slipped the puck through the five-hole of Badger net-minder Jared Moe from below the near dot for the 1-0 edge at 10:42 of the first period.
- The Nittany Lions extended the lead just under five minutes later when McMenamin finished off a phenomenal no-look, behind-the-back pass from sophomore Christian Sarlo (Lynbrook, N.Y.) for the 2-0 advantage at the 15:31 mark.
- McMenamin pushed the lead to 3-0 midway through the second period as he ripped a shot over the blocker of Moe at the 9:08 mark providing him with an early exit from the game.
- Kirwan then added his second of the game as he popped a loose puck over the shoulder Moe's replacement, Cameron Rowe, for the 4-0 lead at the 17:07 mark.
- Wisconsin ended the shutout bid as Corson Ceulemans tallied a powerplay goal off both pipes and in for the 4-1 deficit at the 5:13 mark of the third period.
GOALTENDING
- Sophomore Liam Souliere (Brampton, Ontario) moves to 4-2-0 on the year after registering his first career Big Ten victory with a career-best 40-save performance.
- Moe falls to 6-9-3 after making 26 saves in the loss. Rowe didn't factor in the decision after stopping 17-of-18 shots he faced during his 30:52 of relief.
GADOWSKY POSTGAME
Q: Opening Statement:
A: Connor McMenamin has been playing really good hockey but hasn't been rewarded a lot. It's really nice to see that happen tonight, nice to get off a power play goal early as well. Liam Souliere I thought was really focused and excellent all night. There was a big difference tonight. I know they've been great all year, but to have such a supportive student section come out and be so full and so supportive the whole game, that definitely played a part as well.
Q: Why Liam in net tonight?
A: Number one is he deserved it. He's an excellent teammate. He works extremely hard. He deserved it. That being said, we've been playing well and haven't quite got a win and sometimes you just want to shake up but it was nothing that Oskar [Autio] did. Oskar played very, very well the last two weekends, like very very well. If there's one message, it's that we don't only want to play very well. We want to win. It was nothing that Oskar did.
Q: What specifically has Connor McMenamin been doing that's playing really good hockey?
A: He always has been. It's really what he does. What I mean by that is he's always on the defensive side of the puck. He doesn't cheat the game. So, if you need someone who's going to backcheck as hard as they go for loose pucks around in the ozone, that's him. If you're going to get someone who's going to make sure he does the job as a third man high, that's him. If you're going to get someone who's going to change when they should rather than waiting on the ice trying to get a point, that's him. He does all the little things for the team, and he always has. He's been playing very well in that sense lately, but he's just had a number of breakaways and hasn't scored. Really good team guys, often the law of averages catch up to them, and that's what happened tonight.
Q: How important was it to score on that 5 on 3 chance in the beginning of the game and take advantage of it after last week and not being able to score on those big powerplays?
A: It was really big because of the situation. It's always good to get the first one but because of where our powerplay has been and the chances we've had, I was worried that if we didn't score on the 5 on 3, that the momentum could have shifted and would have been disgruntling to us. A nice play by Kevin Wall, even better finish by Ryan Kirwan and it was really nice to get that first one.
NOTES
- Penn State opened the scoring to snap a streak of four-straight games where the opponent scored first. The Nittany Lions are now 12-3-0 on the year when scoring first and 12-3-0 when leading entering the third period.
- Penn State held the 47-41 edge in shots on goal while going 1-for-3 on the man-advantage. Wisconsin was 1-for-4 on the powerplay.
- With his first period goal, Kirwan extends his point streak to five games just one shy of his career-long six-game streak from earlier this season.
- Kirwan added a second goal marking his first career multi-goal game and his fourth career multi-point game. The freshman now has at least one point in 11 of his last 13 games played.
- McMenamin's goal snaps a 13-game scoreless streak as his last goal prior to tonight came against Michigan on November 12. After adding a second goal, the junior notches his first multi-goal game this season and the second of his career while collecting his first multi-point game of the season and the sixth of his career.
- With a pair of assists, junior Kevin Wall (Penfield, N.Y.) collected his sixth multi-point game this season and the 13th of his career.
- As well as having a career-high 40 saves in the game, Souliere's 17 third period stops is a new career-high for a single period.
- Penn State improves to 23-18-4 all-time against Wisconsin including a 13-6-1 mark at Pegula Ice Arena. In 18 of the 20 games played at Pegula in this series the winning team has scored four or more goals.
NEXT UP
Both teams return to Pegula tomorrow to close out the season series with a 6 p.m. puck drop.
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.