EAST LANSING, Mich. – The No. 17 Penn State Nittany Lions erased their second-straight two-goal third period deficit forcing overtime and playing to a 3-3 tie against No. 11 Michigan State in Big Ten Conference action at Munn Ice Arena on Friday night.
Senior Xander Lamppa (Rochester, Minn.) and junior Ryan Kirwan (DeWitt., N.Y.) each scored in the shootout to help PSU secure the extra point in the Big Ten standings following the tie with a 2-1 shootout win.
Penn State moves to 5-2-3 overall and 0-0-3-0-0-2 in conference action while the Spartans now stand at 7-3-1 on the year and 2-0-1-0-0-0 in league play.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Spartans opened the scoring with a shorthanded tally as Patrick Geary picked the corner over the blocker of Nittany Lion sophomore net-minder Noah Grannan (Germantown, Wis.) for the 1-0 edge at the 6:42 mark of the first period.
- MSU extended the lead midway through the second period as a mishandled puck behind the goal line was sent out front and Daniel Russell deposited it into Penn State's yawning net for the 2-0 advantage at the 9:05 mark.
- A few minutes later the hosts once again took advantage of a defensive zone miscue by the Nittany Lions and Isaac Howard found himself all alone in front and he didn't miss pushing the lead to 3-0 at 12:23 of the middle frame.
- Penn State got on the board late in the second period as senior Tyler Paquette (Collegeville, Pa.) laced a one-timer off a rolling puck in the slot that beat Spartan goaltender Trey Augustine over the blocker for the 3-1 deficit at the 17:33 mark.
- PSU tightened things further as Lamppa redirected a point shot from classmate Jimmy Dowd Jr. (Point Pleasant Beach, N.J.) past Augustine for the 3-2 score at 7:07 of the third period.
- The Nittany Lions found the equalizer with less than three minutes to play as freshman Matt DiMarsico (Wexford, Pa.) collected a loose puck behind the Spartan net and curled around the far post before ripping a shot past Augustine for the 3-3 score at 17:33 of the third period.
GOALTENDING
Grannan moves to 1-1-2 on the year after making 32 saves including all 16 over the final 25 minutes of action while his counterpart, Augustine, now sits at 6-3-1 overall following 37 stops in the game.
NOTES
- Penn State held the 40-35 edge in shots on goal while going 0-for-2 with the man-advantage but killing off the lone powerplay chance for the Spartans.
- With his third period assist, Dowd now has 51 career points and is just one point shy of tying Vince Pedrie for seventh all-time by Penn State defensemen. His 42 assists are now just one shy of tying Trevor Hamilton and Kris Myllari for fifth on the all-time Nittany Lion defensemen assist list.
- Junior Dylan Lugris (Buffalo, N.Y.) sees his three-game goal and point-streak snapped as he was held off the statsheet on Friday evening.
- The three-straight shootouts for Penn State are the most consecutive shootouts in program history and the three shootouts this season are the second-most in a single-season in program history and are the most since the Nittany Lions saw five games decided in shootouts during the 2017-18 season.
- Penn State is now 7-10 all-time in shootouts and 2-1 this season, the two wins tying the most shootout victories in a season in program history.
- Lamppa is now 2-for-2 in shootouts this season becoming the first Nittany Lion to score multiple shootout goals in a single-season.
NEXT UP
Both teams return to Munn Ice Arena tomorrow afternoon to wrap up the weekend series with a 4 p.m. puck drop.
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.