UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – No. 12 Ohio State scored twice in each period on Saturday night to defeat Penn State, 6-0, in Big Ten Conference action inside Pegula Ice Arena.
The Nittany Lions see their three-game unbeaten streak snapped and fall to 14-13-1 on the year and 5-12-1-1-1-1 in Big Ten play while Ohio State improves to 19-7-2 overall and 11-5-2-0-1-2 in conference action.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Ohio State opened the scoring taking advantage of a Nittany Lion defensive zone turnover as Jake Wise redirected a point shot from Will Riedell past senior net-minder Oskar Autio (Espoo, Finland) for the 1-0 lead at the 12:10 mark.
- The Buckeyes extended that lead just over five minutes later taking advantage of another defensive zone lapse by Penn State and it was once again Wise finishing a pass from Joe Dunlap on the backdoor for the 2-0 edge at 17:37 of the first period.
- OSU continued the onslaught in the second period as Dunlap finished a pass from Cam Thiesing during an odd-man rush for the 3-0 margin at the 1:58 mark.
- The Buckeyes pushed the lead to 4-0 with a Georgii Merkulov tally at 12:03 of the middle frame.
- Mason Lohrei potted the fifth straight goal for the visitors as he clanked one off the pipe and in from the high slot during the man-advantage just 65 ticks into the third period.
- Tate Singleton added the final goal for the Buckeyes at the 14:41 mark of the third period.
GOALTENDING
- Autio falls to 10-11-0 on the year after stopping 20 shots in the defeat while his counterpart, Jakub Dobes improves to 18-6-2 following a career-best 51-save performance earning his third shutout of the season.
- Sophomore Doug Dorr (Pittsburgh, Pa.) made his collegiate debut in net stopping the one shot he faced over the final 5:19 of game action.
GADOWSKY POSTGAME
Q: Opening Statement
A: We lost to a very good team. I actually thought they were a lot more mentally tough than we were tonight. If we recognize that, I think we can learn a very valuable lesson.
Q: What did they do to put pressure on Oskar [Autio] throughout the night?
A: We were putting pressure on them and then we collapsed. We had a lot of pressure, but we let up in giving odd-man rushes. I think they were very opportunistic, and we allowed them to be.
Q: The odd-man rushes didn't really seem like a problem last night, what do you think created that tonight? What was different? Do you think the deviation resulted from [Ohio State] going ahead?
A: Impatience. We had faith in what we did. We'll be able to play our game regardless and stay with it, have faith in it and continue down that path and play it. Tonight, we got frustrated. We were playing our game, we got frustrated, and then would deviate and they would take advantage of it. That's what I mean, opportunistic.
Q: Do you think the deviation resulted from [Ohio State] going ahead?
A: No, it was frustration. Certainly, that plays a part. There's a saying, catch-up hockey is losing hockey for the reason that when you press and press and you're often susceptible to big breakdowns which cause odd-man rushes. I think that's a part of it. I think we got that way, way too early. I thought we were pressing, we hit three crossbars. I thought we had opportunities, but we didn't stay on it. We got impatient and frustrated.
NOTES
- Tonight's crowd of 6,299 is the fifth largest in Pegula Ice Arena history.
- Penn State held the commanding 51-27 edge in shots on goal including the 19-9 clip in the third period but could not crack Dobes. The Nittany Lions went 0-for-3 with the man-advantage while Ohio State was 1-for-3 on the powerplay.
- Freshmen classmates Danny Dzhaniyev (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and Ben Schoen (Maumee, Ohio) each see their career-best four game point streaks snapped while fellow rookie Ryan Kirwan (DeWitt, N.Y.) failed to register a point as well snapping his career-long seven game point streak.
- The shutout for Penn State is the first since January 17, 2020, against Michigan, also at home and also to the score of 6-0.
NEXT UP
Penn State hits the road for a trip to South Bend to battle the 11th-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish next 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.