UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The seventh-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions dropped the opening contest of a two-game series to No. 2 Minnesota, 7-2, in Big Ten Conference action on Friday evening inside Pegula Ice Arena.
The Nittany Lions fall to 19-11-1 overall and 9-11-1-0-2-0 in Big Ten play with the loss while the Gophers improve to 22-8-1 on the year and 16-4-1-1-1-0 in conference action with the victory.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Minnesota opened the scoring on the rush with a tic-tac-toe goal as Connor Kurth one touched the puck into a yawning net for the 1-0 edge at 6:47 of the first period.
- The Gophers doubled their lead late in the first period as Jimmy Snuggerud snuck one through traffic from the slot for the 2-0 advantage at the 18:32 mark.
- Minnesota wasted little time extended the lead in the middle frame as Matthew Knies finished off a pass from Logan Cooley into a yawning net for the 3-0 margin just 39 ticks into the period.
- The visitors pushed the lead to 4-0 as Ryan Johnson picked the corner through traffic at 2:56 of the second period.
- Minnesota stretched the lead to 6-0 with a pair of powerplay goals from Snuggerud and Jackson Lacombe at 6:47 and 9:44, respectively.
- Penn State got on the board off the rush as junior Tyler Paquette (Collegeville, Pa.) found classmate Christian Sarlo (Lynbrook, N.Y.) out front and he snuck the puck between the pads of Gopher net-minder Justen Close for the 6-1 deficit at 14:27 of the second period.
- Cooley extended the Gopher lead again as he got behind the defense and roofed the puck for the 7-1 advantage at the 16:15 mark.
- Senior Ashton Calder (Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.) tallied a late third period goal to account for the 7-2 final.
GOALTENDING
Junior Liam Souliere (Brampton, Ontario) drops to 16-10-1 after making eight saves in 22:56 of game action before being reliedved by freshman Noah Grannan (Germantown, Wis.) who stopped13 shots over the final 37:04. Close improves to 19-8-1 on the year after stopping 35-of-36 shots he faced over the opening 50:06 before he was lifted for Owen Bartoszkiewicz.
NOTES
- Penn State held the 41-28 edge in shots on goal, but went 0-for-3 on the man-advantage while Minnesota was 2-for-3 on the powerplay.
- The five-goal second period for the Gophers marked the first time the Nittany Lions have allowed five goals in a period since Michigan scored five in the third period of a 7-1 loss on March 11, 2016.
- With a pair of secondary assists, junior Jimmy Dowd Jr. (Point Pleasant Beach, N.J.) registered his fourth multi-point effort this season and the 12th of his career. He also surpassed Vince Pedrie for solo seventh on the Penn State all-time assists list for defensemen with 38 for his career.
- The opening goal for Minnesota marked just the 10th time in 31 games this season that Penn State has failed to score first. The Nittany Lions fall to 4-6-0 in such games.
NEXT UP
Both teams return to Pegula Ice Arena tomorrow night to conclude the season series with another 6:30 p.m. puck drop. The game will be broadcast across the nation on the B1G Network.
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.