MADISON, Wis. – Junior goaltender Liam Souliere (Brampton, Ontario) stopped 31-of-32 shots to lead No. 16 Penn State to a, 2-1, victory against Wisconsin in Big Ten Conference action on Friday night at the Kohl Center.
Penn State improves to 7-0-0 to start the year and 1-0-0 in conference action with the victory while the Badgers fall to 2-5-0 on the year and 0-3-0 in Big Ten play.
The 7-0-0 start for the Nittany Lions is the best start to a season in program history surpassing the 6-0-0 start to the 2018-19 campaign. With St. Cloud State dropping its first game of the season to Bemidji State, 3-1, Penn State is the last team this season to remain unbeaten and untied.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Badgers opened the scoring early as Dominick Mersch redirected a point shot by Sam Stange that found its way past Souliere for the 1-0 lead at 3:41 of the first period.
- Penn State evened the score as a shot from the high slot by freshman Jarod Crespo (Eastampton, N.J.) caught the skate of senior Kevin Wall (Penfield, N.Y.) and deflected past Badger goaltender Jared Moe for the 1-1 score at the 13:52 mark.
- The Nittany Lions grabbed the lead early in the second period as junior Tyler Paquette (Collegeville, Pa.) collected the puck along the far half wall and skated below the goal line firing the puck on net from a bad angle and it snuck through Moe's five-hole for the 2-1 advantage at the 3:02 mark of the middle frame.
GOALTENDING
- After letting in the early deflection, Souliere stopped nearly 30-straight shots to close the game including all 25 over the final two frames to earn his fifth win of the season moving to 5-0-0.
- Moe stopped 36-of-38 shots, but falls to 2-4-0 on the year.
NOTES
- Mersch's first period goal marked the first time through the first seven games this season that Penn State failed to score first.
- The Nittany Lions held the slim 38-32 shot advantage while going 0-for-5 on the powerplay, but a perfect 3-for-3 on the penalty kill. The Badgers managed just one shot on goal during their three powerplay chances.
- Penn State wins just its third game in its last 11 chances in Madison while improving to 6-4-0 all-time in Big Ten openers and 3-3-0 in such games on the road snapping a two-game losing streak in conference openers.
- The Nittany Lions have now won four-straight games against the Badgers dating back to last season and improve to 25-18-3 all-time against Wisconsin.
- Friday night's 2-1 victory over Wisconsin marks the first time these two teams have played to that final score since the 2017 Big Ten Championship which the Nittany Lions won in double-overtime.
- Penn State is now 46-14-4 all-time in the month of October.
NEXT UP
The two teams return to the ice tomorrow night to close out the weekend series with another 8 p.m. ET puck drop from the Kohl Center.
For more information on the 2022-23 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.