UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Sophomore Noah Grannan (Germantown, Wis.) stopped 25-of-26 shots as No. 15 Penn State held on for a 2-1 victory over Alaska-Anchorage in non-conference action at Pegula Ice Arena on Thursday night.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Penn State (5-1-0) opened the scoring with an early powerplay tally as senior Christian Sarlo (Lynbrook, N.Y.) redirected a slot shot from freshman Matt DiMarsico (Wexford, Pa.) through the legs of Seawolf goaltender Jared Whale for the 1-0 edge at 1:33 of the first period.
- The Nittany Lions extended the lead early in the second period as Danny Dzhaniyev (Brooklyn, N.Y.) corralled a loose puck at the near post and lifted it over the blocker of Whale for the 2-0 advantage just 70 ticks into the stanza.
- Alaska-Anchorage (3-4-0) cut the deficit in half mid-way through the second period as Ben Almquist snuck a rebound past the out-stretched pad of Grannan for the 2-1 score at the 10:31 mark.
GOALTENDING
- Grannan runs his record to 1-1-0 on the season after stopping 25-of-26 shots in his first start of the season.
- Whale stood on his head to keep the Seawolves within striking distance all game making a career-best 52 saves in the loss to drop to 3-3-0 on the year.
NOTES
- Penn State held the commanding 54-26 edge in shots on goal, while going 1-for-2 with the man-advantage. The Nittany Lions did not commit a penalty all game for the first time since February 26, 2022 at Michigan State.
- The Nittany Lions opened the scoring for the fourth time in the first six games improving to 4-0-0 when doing so.
- With his second period goal, Dzhaniyev has now scored in back-to-back games for the third time in his career while extending his point streak to six games, just one shy of his career long.
- Sophomore Dylan Gratton (Pottstown, Pa.) collected the secondary assist on Sarlo's first period goal giving him points in consecutive games for just the third time in his career.
- The victory marks the 199th for head coach Guy Gadowsky behind the Nittany Lion bench.
- Junior Ryan Kirwan (DeWitt, N.Y.) was held without a point for the first time this season snapping a five-game point streak.
- Senior Xander Lamppa (Rochester, Minn.) and freshman Aiden Fink (Calgary, Alberta) also saw their modest three-game point streaks snapped while graduate student Jacques Bouquot (South Windsor, Conn.) saw his four-game point streak come to an end as well.
NEXT UP
Both teams return to Pegula Ice Arena tomorrow night to close out the season series with a 7 p.m. pyck drop to 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.