COLUMBUS, Ohio – No. 9 Ohio State used three unanswered goals to defeat No. 10 Penn State, 3-1, in game three of the Big Ten Quarterfinals on Sunday evening inside Value City Arena. The Buckeyes win the series two games to one and advance to next week's semifinal.
The Nittany Lions drop to 21-15-1 on the year with the loss while Ohio State improves to 20-14-3 overall with the victory.
The Buckeyes will travel to Ann Arbor next Saturday to battle Michigan in the B1G Tournament semifinals while Penn State will have the next two weeks off in preparation for the NCAA Tournament where they are in a great position to receive an at-large bid, currently No. 9 in the PairWise.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Buckeyes thought they had opened the scoring as Mason Lohrei found the back of the net exactly 10:00 minutes into the first period, however, a Penn State challenge for goaltender interference was successful and the game remained scoreless.
- Penn State eventually opened the scoring in the second period as senior Kevin Wall (Penfield, N.Y.) was left all alone streaking down the ice and he snuck one through the pads of Buckeye net-minder Jakub Dobes that just snuck over the line for the 1-0 edge at the 6:28 mark.
- Moments after Ohio State had a second goal overturned by a successful Nittany Lion challenge, the Buckeyes converted on a powerplay to tie the contest 1-1 as Cole McWard blasted a one-timer past the blocker of junior Liam Souliere (Brampton, Ontario) at 12:08 of the middle frame.
- The Buckeyes grabbed their first lead of the game taking advantage of a 3-on-1 rush as Scooter Brickey roofed one short side over the left shoulder of Souliere for the 2-1 score at 15:45 of the second period.
- Tate Singleton hit the empty net with just 1:43 remaining in the game to account for the 3-1 final score.
GOALTENDING
Souliere drops to 18-14-1 after making 22 saves in the loss while Dobes improves to 20-14-3 on the year after stopping 30 shots in the victory.
NOTES
- Penn State held the 31-25 edge in shots on goal, however, the Nittany Lions were unable to convert on three powerplay opportunities while the Buckeyes went 1-for-4 with the man-advantage.
- Penn State went 2-for-2 on challenges in the game taking a pair of Buckeye goals off the board, one for goaltender interference and the other for kicking the puck into the net.
- Penn State scored the opening goal for the 25th time in 37 games this season moving to 17-7-1 in such games with the loss.
- The loss is the first for the Nittany Lions in Big Ten quarterfinal elimination games since the conference adopted the best-of-three series prior to the 2017-18 season as Penn State is no 5-1 in such games. The quarterfinal loss also snaps a streak of seven-straight semifinal appearances which was a Big Ten record.
- Penn State is now 14-11 all-time in Big Ten Tournament games and 4-4 against the Buckeyes in the postseason.
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