ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Junior Xander Lamppa (Rochester, Minn.) tallied twice but it was not enough as No. 6 Penn State dropped a, 7-3, decision to No. 7 Michigan in Big Ten Conference action on Friday evening inside Yost Ice Arena.
The Nittany Lions fall to 18-8-1 overall and 8-8-1-0-2-0 in Big Ten play while the Wolverines move to 15-9-1 on the year and 7-8-0-2-2-0 in conference action with the win.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- With Penn State controlling the pace of play over the opening five minutes it would be Michigan who opened the scoring with a goal against the run of play on its first shot of the game as Jackson Hallum buried a loose puck in the low slot for the 1-0 lead at 5:12 of the first period.
- The Wolverines extended the lead to a pair as Adam Fantilli beat Nittany Lion junior net-minder Liam Souliere (Brampton, Ontario) past the blocker with the man-advantage for the 2-0 edge at the 8:45 mark of the opening stanza.
- The Nittany Lions cut the deficit in half early in the second period taking advantage of a five-minute major penalty as just six seconds into the powerplay it was Lamppa with a one-timer off a pass from classmate Tyler Paquette (Collegeville, Pa.) for the 2-1 score just 2:02 into the middle frame.
- The hosts regained the two-goal advantage midway through the second period as Rutger McGroarty beat Souliere over the glove after some fancy puck work from Seamus Casey for the 3-1 lead at 9:50 of the stanza.
- Just 43 seconds later Michigan pushed the lead to 4-1 as Philippe LaPointe found the back of the net at 10:33 of the second period ending the night for Souliere.
- Penn State cut back into the deficit as Lamppa intercepted a pass behind the Wolverine net and stuffed it through the legs of Erik Portillo for the 4-2 score at 14:25 of the second period.
- Fantilli and Luke Hughes added late empty net tallies at 17:50 and 18:42 of the third period for the 6-2 lead.
- Freshman Alex Servagno (Gibsonia, Pa.) collected a late goal with under a minute to play and then just 22 seconds later Luca Fantilli added a goal for the 7-3 final.
GOALTENDING
- Souliere falls to 16-7-1 on the year after making 10 saves over the first 30:33 of the contest before being relieved by freshman Noah Grannan (Germantown, Wis.) who stopped 10-of-11 shots in 28:07 of game action.
- Portillo improves to 14-8-0 after stopping a season-high 51 shots in the victory.
NOTES
- Penn State held the commanding 54-27 edge in shots on goal, while both teams went 1-for-4 on the powerplay. The Nittany Lions have now lost three-straight games this season when registering 50 or more shots and are 2-3-0 in such games this season.
- With Michigan opening the scoring it marked just the eighth time in 27 games this season that Penn State has failed to score first. The Nittany Lions are now 4-5-0 in such games.
- The Friday night loss marks the third-straight loss to open a series in Big Ten play after going 6-0 in such games to open the season.
- The two-goal effort for Lamppa marks the first multi-goal game of his career and is also his third multi-point effort this season and the fourth of his career.
NEXT UP
Both teams return to Yost tomorrow night for the series finale at 7 p.m.
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.