UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Freshman Aiden Fink (Calgary, Alberta) tallied one goal and a pair of assists to help lift No. 19 Penn State to a 7-1 victory and series sweep over Lindenwood in non-conference action on Saturday afternoon inside Pegula Ice Arena.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Penn State (8-4-3) opened the scoring for the second-straight night as sophomore Alex Servagno (Gibsonia, Pa.) intercepted a pass in the neutral zone and found senior Tyler Paquette (Collegeville, Pa.) and he laced a twisted wrister past the blocker of Lion net-minder Matthew Syverson for the 1-0 edge at 15:16 of the first period.
- Lindenwood (3-9-2) responded just 64 ticks later as Ethan Zielke redirected a shot from Joe Prouty from a bad angle that snuck through the pads of Nittany Lion sophomore goaltender Noah Grannan (Germantown, Wis.) for the 1-1 score at the 16:20 mark.
- The Nittany Lions used carryover time on a major powerplay to open the second period with a pair of goals in a 30 second span as junior Ryan Kirwan (DeWitt, N.Y.) sniped off the far post and in at the 1:32 mark before graduate transfer Jacques Bouquot (South Windsor, Conn.) potted his third man-advantage tally of the weekend as he picked the corner over Syverson's blocker for the 3-1 advantage at 2:02 of the middle frame.
- Midway through the second period, Fink crept behind the defense and sophomore Dylan Gratton (Pottstown, Pa.) found him and the former sniped far-side from the left faceoff dot for the 4-1 edge at the 11:02 mark.
- Penn State continued its second period outburst as junior Danny Dzhaniyev (Brooklyn, N.Y.) redirected a shot from Kirwan that snuck inside the far post for the 5-1 lead at the 17:57 mark.
- The hosts extended the margin early in the third period as Gratton snuck a point shot through traffic and just inside the near post for the 6-1 score at the 4:54 mark.
- Freshman Matt DiMarsico (Wexford, Pa.) concluded the scoring with just 3.3 seconds remaining in regulation to account for the 7-1 final score.
GOALTENDING
Grannan 2-2-2 on the year following an 18-save performance in the victory while his counterpart, Syverson, drops to 0-1-0 after stopping 41 shots in his first collegiate start.
NOTES
- Penn State held the commanding 48-19 edge in shots on goal, including an 11-2 mark in the third period, while going 2-for-5 on the powerplay and a perfect 3-for-3 on the penalty kill. The Nittany Lions were 5-for-11 on the powerplay for the series.
- The 16 goals scored by Penn State are the second-most in a single series in program history just two shy of the 18 they tallied in a home-and-home sweep of Robert Morris on November 9-10, 2018.
- This weekend's series also marks just the third time Penn State has reached the seven-goal mark in both games of a series and first since that series against Bobby Mo in 2018.
- Penn State is now 6-1-0 when scoring the opening goal of a game this season.
- Penn State has now scored seven or more goals in a game on 29 occasions.
- Bouquot extends his career-long point-streak to seven games and with goals in two-straight games he is just one game shy of his career-long goal streak.
- Fink has now scored in six of his last seven games including five-straight to extend his career-long goal and point streaks to five games.
- Fink added a pair of assists to finishing with three points and secure his fifth multi-point game of the season and fourth-straight. Fink concludes the month of November with a stat line of eight goals and six assists for 14 points in eight games played.
- With one goal and one assist, Kirwan secured his second multi-goal game of the season, second-straight, and the fourth of his career.
- Dzhaniyev and Gratton also had a goal and assist each to secure their fourth and third multi-point games this season, respectively. For Dzhaniyev it marks the 13th of his career and is fourth for Gratton.
- With a secondary assist on Dzhaniyev's goal, junior Simon Mack (Brockville, Ontario) extends his career-best point and assist streaks to four games.
- Senior Xander Lamppa (Rochester, Minn.) collected a pair of assists to secure his third multi-point effort this season and the seventh of his career.
NEXT UP
Penn State remains in Hockey Valley and resumes Big Ten Conference play as No. 8 Minnesota visits Pegula Ice Arena for a weekend set.
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.