UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Senior Tyler Paquette (Collegeville, Pa.) laced a wrist shot into the back of the net late in the third period to break a 3-3 tie and give Penn State the 4-3 victory and series sweep over Ohio State in Big Ten Conference action on Saturday evening in front of a record crowd of 6,578 inside Pegula Ice Arena.
The Nittany Lions move to 12-11-3 on the year and 4-9-3-0-0-2 in conference action with the victory while the Buckeyes drop to 9-13-4 overall and 1-13-2-0-0-2 in league play with the loss.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Penn State opened the scoring late in the first period during a 4-on-3 powerplay as graduate transfer Jacques Bouquot (South Windsor, Conn.) collected his own rebound in the low slot after his initial shot was blocked and snapped it over the glove of Buckeye net-minder Kristoffer Eberly for the 1-0 edge with just 48.3 ticks left in the frame.
- The Nittany Lions extended the lead midway through the second period taking advantage of a major penalty as freshman Aiden Fink (Calgary, Alberta) sniped past the glove of Eberly for the 2-0 advantage at the 8:18 mark.
- The hosts pushed the lead to 3-0 after sophomore Jarod Crespo (Seven Lakes, N.C.) deposited a rebound moments after Fink's initial net drive was thwarted at the 10:49 mark.
- The Buckeyes cut the deficit to a single goal with a pair of scores in under a minute capitalizing on a stretch of 4-on-4 play with a goal by William Smith at the 12:11 mark before a powerplay goal by Patrick Guzzo made the score 3-2 at 13:38 of the second period.
- Ohio State scored its third-straight goal to tie the contest as Stephen Halliday finished on the doorstep for the 3-3 score at 6:51 of the third period.
- With just one second remaining on a Guzzo elbowing minor junior Ryan Kirwan (DeWitt, N.Y.) slipped the puck to Paquette entering the zone and he sniped a wrister past the glove of Eberly sending the building into hysteria and giving Penn State the 4-3 lead at 15:32 of the third period.
GOALTENDING
Souliere moves to 9-7-1 on the year after making 29 saves in the victory while Eberly made 40 stops for the second-consecutive game falling to 2-4-1 in the defeat.
NOTES
- Saturday night's attendance of 6,578 is a new Pegula Ice Arena record.
- Penn State held the commanding 44-32 edge in shots on goal while going 3-for-8 on the man-advantage. Penn State was a combined 5-for-10 on the powerplay in the series. OSU went 1-for-2 with the man-advantage on Saturday.
- Penn State secures its third-straight Wear White game victory moving to 4-5-1 all-time in such games while this year's senior class improves to 3-0-0 in Wear White games (the 2020-21 season was played without fans, so no such game was contested).
- The sweep was the first-ever for Penn State against Ohio State and the first for the Nittany Lions in Big Ten play since a road sweep at Wisconsin on October 28-29, 2022.
- The Nittany Lions move to 9-5-0 this season when scoring first and are a perfect 9-0-1 when leading entering the third period.
- Penn State is now 6-1-3 this season in games decided by one goal or less. Excluding empty net goals, 12 of the last 14 meetings between the Nittany Lions and Buckeyes have been one goal contests.
- Freshman Matt DiMarsico (Wexford, Pa.) had a trio of assists to secure his sixth multi-point game of the season.
- DiMarsico now has 24 points on the season placing him eighth in Penn State history for freshman scoring while his 18 helpers are the third most by a rookie in Nittany Lion history.
- Fink collected his ninth multi-point game with one goal and one assist. His 32 points are now just four shy of Nate Sucese '20 for second on the Penn State freshman scoring list while his 15 goals stand alone in fifth.
- Fink now has eight powerplay goals to his credit which are the most in a single-season in Penn State history by two.
- Senior Jimmy Dowd Jr. (Point Pleasant Beach, N.J.) collected a pair of assists on the night to secure his first multi-point game of the season and the 14th of his career.
- With those two assists Dowd Jr. moves past Kevin Kerr '19 and Erik Autio '18 on the Penn State all-time points list for defensemen as he now has 59 for his career while his 49 assists tie Kerr for third all-time by blue-liners.
NEXT UP
- Penn State has a bye-week next weekend before traveling to Minnesota for a Big Ten Conference series on February 10-11.
- The Nittany Lions will host the 2024 Penn State Sled Hockey Classic on Saturday, February 3 at 9:45 a.m. at Pegula Ice Arena. Admission is free to all for the exhibition between the State College Coyotes and Penn State Nittany Lions.
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.