UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – It took a career-best 52-save effort from Ryan Bischel for Notre Dame to escape a record-setting crowd at Pegula Ice Arena and defeat No. 6 Penn State, 2-1, in Big Ten Conference action Friday evening.
The Nittany Lions drop to 17-7-1 overall and 7-7-1-0-2-0 in Big Ten play while The Irish move to 11-11-3 on the year and 6-7-2-1-0-1 in conference action.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Penn State opened the scoring late in the first period as sophomore Danny Dzhaniyev (Brooklyn, N.Y.) ripped home a rebound into a yawning net after freshman Jarod Crespo's (Eastampton, N.J.) initial shot from the high slot was blocked out front for the 1-0 edge at the 19:00 mark.
- The Irish evened the score as Chayse Primeau tapped in a pass from Justin Janicke at the near post for the 1-1 score at 5:42 of the second period.
- Notre Dame took the lead early in the final frame with a powerplay goal as Ryder Rolston roofed a backhander over the blocker of Nittany Lion junior net-minder Liam Souliere (Brampton, Ontario) from below the right dot at 2:12 of the third period.
GOALTENDING
Souliere drops to 15-6-1 on the year after turning aside 22-of-24 shots in the loss while Bischel improves 11-11-2 following his career-high 52-save effort. Bischel has 99 saves in his past two games against Penn State allowing just four goals on 103 shots on net.
NOTES
- The 6,558 fans that packed Pegula on Friday night set a new attendance record surpassing the 6,475 fans who attended the Hockey Valley White Rush, also against Notre Dame, on February 1, 2020.
- Penn State also welcomed its 1,000,000th fan to Pegula Ice Arena on Friday evening.
- Penn State held the commanding 53-24 edge in shots on goal, but were unable to capitalize on a trio of man-advantage chances while Notre Dame went 1-for-4 on the powerplay.
- Dzhaniyev's first period tally marks the 19th time in 25 games that Penn State has scored first, however, it is just the fourth time the Nittany Lions have lost when doing so, moving their record to 14-4-1 in such contests with the loss.
- Dzhaniyev now has goals in back-to-back games for the second time in his career and has registered points in three-straight, one shy of his career-best.
- Penn State drops to 6-4-1 this season in games decided by one goal or less.
NEXT UP
Both teams return to Pegula Ice Arena tomorrow evening to close out the season series with a 5 p.m. puck drop in the annual 'Wear White' game.
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.