UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – No. 12 Penn State erased a three-goal deficit, but couldn't complete the comeback fully as AIC scored two late goals to secure the 6-4 victory in non-conference action at Pegula Ice Arena on Saturday night.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- AIC (1-4-0) opened the scoring taking advantage of an early powerplay as Julius Janhonen found Matt Rickard alone in the low slot for a one-timer and the 1-0 edge at 2:54 of the first period.
- Penn State (4-1-0) evened the score on a harmless wrister from the blueline by junior Simon Mack (Brockville, Ontario) that found its way through traffic and over the glove of Yellow Jacket net-minder Alexandros Aslanidis for the 1-1 score at 6:30 of the opening frame.
- The Yellow Jackets regained the lead late in the first period pushing it to 3-1 with a pair of goals less than three minutes apart from Janhonen and Austen Long, the latter coming with just 16 ticks on the clock.
- AIC pushed the lead to 4-1 midway through the second period as a bouncing puck was one-timed top shelf by Alexander Malinowski at the 10:46 mark.
- The Nittany Lions cut into the deficit just a minute later with a goal in transition as junior Carson Dyck (Lethbridge, Alberta) found senior Chase McLane (Trenton, Mich.) and he laced a wrister past the glove of Aslanidis for the 4-2 score at the 11:46 mark.
- Junior Danny Dzhaniyev (Brooklyn, N.Y.) made it two scores in-a-row for Penn State as he deposited a rebound off classmate Ryan Kirwan's (DeWitt, N.Y.) initial chance for the 4-3 score at 15:13 of the middle frame.
- Penn State continued to pressure AIC into the third period and eventually found the equalizer as sophomore Dylan Gratton (Pottstown, Pa.) sent a beautiful cross-ice pass to freshman Reese Laubach (San Jose, Calif.) for a backdoor tap in and the 4-4 score at the 16:16 mark.
- The Yellow Jackets fought back, however, and Casey McDonald delivered on an odd-man rush for the 5-4 edge just 91 ticks later and an empty netter from Brian Kramer sealed the 6-4 victory.
GOALTENDING
- Senior Liam Souliere (Brampton, Ontario) did not factor in the decision after allowing four goals on 15 shots over the opening 32:55 before being lifted for sophomore Noah Grannan (Germantown, Wis.).
- Grannan was the tough luck loser falling to 0-1-0 on the year after stopping seven of the eight shots he faced over the final 25:24.
- Aslanidis improves to 1-0-0 on the season after making 36 saves in the victory.
NOTES
- Penn State held the 40-24 edge in shots on goal, but went 0-for-2 with the man-advantage including a first period five-minute major. AIC went 1-for-2 on the powerplay.
- The loss for the Nittany Lions snaps a 21-game non-conference winning streak and is their first loss to an Atlantic Hockey opponent in the last 25 contests dating back to a 7-4 loss to Mercyhurst on November 3, 2017. Penn State is now 5-3-0 all-time against AIC.
- Kirwan sees his career-long goal streak come to an end at four games, but with an assist on Dzhaniyev's goal he runs his point streak to five games, two shy of his career-best.
- Lamppa now has assists in three-straight games a new career-long streak and just one game shy of his career-long point streak of four games achieved last season.
- With a secondary assist on Dzhaniyev's second period tally, freshman Aiden Fink (Calgary, Alberta) now has points in three-straight games and four of his first five as a Nittany Lion.
- Gratton collected a pair of assists to secure his first multi-point effort this season and the second of his career. Gratton was also plus-3 tonight moving him to plus-9 through the first five games this season.
- Graduate student Jacques Bouquot (South Windsor, Conn.) runs his point streak to four games and with assists in each of those games he now has a new career-long assist streak and is just one game shy of his career-long point streak of five games which dates back to his freshman season at Vermont.
NEXT UP
Penn State remains home for a Thursday-Friday series against Alaska-Anchorage next week. Puck drop for both nights is slated for 7 p.m. and each game will be streamed on B1G+.
For more information on the 2023-24 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.