UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Junior Jimmy Dowd Jr. (Point Pleasant, Beach, N.J.) tallied the eventual game-winning goal while adding an assist to help lift Penn State to a, 5-3, victory over Canisius in the season opener for both teams on Friday night inside Pegula Ice Arena.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Penn State (1-0-0) opened the scoring taking advantage of its second of back-to-back powerplay chances as senior Ashton Calder (Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.) jammed home a rebound in the crease after junior Jimmy Dowd Jr.'s (Point Pleasant Beach, N.J.) initial shot was turned aside at 11:39 of the first period.
- The Nittany Lions extended their lead just under two minutes later as senior Ture Linden (Great Falls, Va.) and sophomore Ryan Kirwan (DeWitt, N.Y.) used a strong forecheck along the far half wall causing a turnover and the former found the latter at the far post for the easy finish and 2-0 lead at the 13:27 mark.
- Canisius (0-1-0) cut the deficit in half early in the third period with a power-play tally of its own as J.D. Pogue slipped the puck past junior Liam Souliere (Brampton, Ontario) at the end of a sequence where the Nittany Lion net-minder made four amazing saves prior to the goal at the 2:45 mark of the final frame.
- Penn State regained the two-goal edge as Dowd Jr. was the beneficiary of a beautiful passing display by Kirwan and Linden giving him a yawning net for the 3-1 score at 8:35 of the third period.
- The Nittany Lions then pushed the lead to three as senior Connor MacEachern (Brooklin, Ontario) finished on the welcome mat off a feed from classmate Connor McMenamin (Collegeville, Pa.) for the 4-1 margin at the 13:29 mark.
- The Golden Griffins didn't go away quietly as Kouznetsov tipped another one through traffic on the powerplay to cut the deficit to 4-2 at the 14:52 mark.
- Senior Kevin Wall (Penfield, N.Y.) sealed the victory with a 160-foot empty net tally for the 5-2 final with just 23 ticks remaining in the contest.
GOALTENDING
Souliere was strong only night allowing just a pair of power-play tallies while making 34 saves to improve to 1-0-0 on the year while his counterpart, Jacob Barczewski notched 40 saves in the defeat.
NOTES
- Penn State improves to 7-3-1 all-time in season opening contests and remain unbeaten in such contests at Pegula Ice Arena with a 6-0-1 mark including five-straight victories.
- The Nittany Lions held the 45-36 edge in shots on goal while going 1-for-3 on the man-advantage. Canisius went 2-for-3 on the powerplay.
- Penn State is now 5-1-0 all-time in six games against the Golden Griffins.
- Four Nittany Lions had multi-point efforts on Friday night as Linden, Dowd Jr., Kirwan and MacEachern each factored in on a pair of goals.
- Linden secured his first multi-point effort as a Nittany Lion and the 15th of his career with a pair of assists giving him an even 80 points for his career.
- Both Kirwan and Dowd Jr. added multi-point efforts of their own with one goal and one assist each registering the seventh and ninth of their respective careers.
- With his first period assist, Dowd moves into a tie with teammate and captain Paul DeNaples (Moscow, Pa.) for eighth on the Penn State all-time assist list for defensemen with 27 for his career while his 33 points are just one back of DeNaples for the eighth among defensemen all-time.
- MacEachern added one goal and one assist to secure his first multi-point effort this season and the 10th of his career while extending his point-streak to three games.
- Sophomore Ben Schoen (Maumee, Ohio) collected the secondary assist on MacEachern's goal to extend his point-streak that carries over from the end of last season to a career-best four games.
- Penn State is now 42-15-2 all-time against Atlantic Hockey teams while improving to 40-14-4 in the month of October and 93-1-2 all-time when scoring five or more goals.
POSTGAME QUOTABLES
Q: Canisius played a really aggressive style on offense throughout the entire game, does that prepare you for future opponents?
A: Yeah, they were that way last year. They're very aggressive. I wouldn't just say offensively. I think they're very, very strong, big, tough team and that's how they're successful and they were again tonight. You're going to get big, strong guys in this league, obviously. And I like the way they play. They're always very good. They're going to be very good again this year. And if you remember, last year, we played and we lost the first game. Obviously, I think we're a little more prepared to handle that physicality. I thought we did a pretty good job of it.
Q: Souliere had 34 saves, talk about his performance.
A: I think it was a little bit unnoticed at the start of the game. I don't know if it was nerves, I don't know what it was. But we let up a couple of grade A opportunities and he was really sharp early in the first and then we played well the second half of the first period. It was really good that he was focused from the start. I thought he was awesome from the start.
Q: [Ashton] Calder and [Ture] Linden both helped you put some points on the board tonight. What do you have to say about their debut tonight?
A: I thought it was excellent. I hope they had a great time. I thought the Roar Zone was great, so I'm sure they really enjoyed it. It was nice to see [Ashton] Calder get that first one and celebrate with them. Obviously, you talked about confidence, and when you have two guys that you know are quite optimistic that they're going to help you. We did a lot of homework on their character, but to see them be such a big part offensively right from the start, it's really nice.
Q: Is there anything you want to see carried over into tomorrow night on the defensive side of the puck, what would that be?
A: I thought we were fairly aggressive, at least when we were fresh. I don't think we gave them a lot of room. I think the chances they got may have happened from bobbled pucks or bouncing pucks but I liked our aggressiveness. We certainly didn't sit back. I like that. This is our first game, so we certainly have to clean things up positioning wise, but I do like our mentality. We did a pretty good job of being aggressive ourselves, I like that. But we obviously have to clean up positioning and our exits where we turn over pucks.
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