Four Unanswered Goals Doom Men's Hockey in, 5-1, Loss to Minnesota in Opening Game of B1G QuarterfinalsFour Unanswered Goals Doom Men's Hockey in, 5-1, Loss to Minnesota in Opening Game of B1G Quarterfinals

Four Unanswered Goals Doom Men's Hockey in, 5-1, Loss to Minnesota in Opening Game of B1G Quarterfinals

Box Score

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – The sixth-seeded Penn State Nittany Lions fell to No. 3 Minnesota, 5-1, in game one of a Big Ten Quarterfinal best-of-three series at 3M Arena on Friday evening.

The loss drops Penn State to 15-17-3 on the year while the Gophers improve to 21-9-5 following the victory.

The two teams return to Mariucci tomorrow afternoon for the second game of the series, a do-or-die game for the Nittany Lions as they look to extend their season, with puck drop slated for 3:30 p.m. local time and broadcast on FS2.

HOW IT HAPPENED

  • Minnesota opened the scoring taking advantage of a defensive zone turnover by the Nittany Lions as Sam Rinzel blasted a one-timer from the right circle that went bar-down for the 1-0 edge at 7:21 of the first period.
  • Penn State looked to have tied the contest midway through the opening frame as junior Dylan Lugris (Buffalo, N.Y.) redirected the puck past Gopher net-minder Justen Close, however, after a Minnesota challenge Lugris was deemed to have entered the zone offside and the goal was taken off the board.
  • The Nittany Lions would find the equalizer just 28 ticks later as junior Danny Dzhaniyev (Brooklyn, N.Y.) went coast-to-coast dangling through multiple Gopher defenders before finding a wide-open Jacques Bouquot (South Windsor, Conn.) at the near post for a tap-in score and 1-1 tie at the 10:56 mark.
  • The Gophers regained the lead as Jimmy Snuggerud one-touched a pass from behind the net by Jaxson Nelson for the 2-1 score at 14:21 of the second period.
  • Minnesota pushed the lead to 3-1 early in the third period as Aaron Huglen redirected a point shot past PSU senior goaltender Liam Souliere (Brampton, Ontario) at the 2:18 mark.
  • The hosts extended the lead midway through the third period as Rhett Pitlick sent a rebound into the yawning net for the 4-1 advantage at the 10:43 mark.
  • Pitlick then hit the empty net at the 16:59 mark to account for the 5-1 final.

GOALTENDING

  • Souliere falls to 12-13-1 after making 22 saves in the defeat while Close moves to 20-8-5 after stopping 20-of-21 shots he faced in the game.

NOTES

  • Minnesota held the 27-21 edge in shots on goal, including the 9-1 clip in the second period while both teams went 0-for-1 on the man-advantage.
  • Minnesota also had a commanding lead at the faceoff dot winning 31-of-51 draws (61 percent).
  • Penn State is now 3-2 all-time in five playoff games against the Gophers with Minnesota having won the last two.
  • The Nittany Lions drop to 14-12-0 all-time in the Big Ten Tournament and are now just 4-7 in true road games during Big Ten Tournament play.
  • Penn State is 1-4 all-time in opening games of the best-of-three quarterfinals and have now lost four-straight series openers.
  • The Nittany Lions fall to 5-11-3 on the year when the opponent scores first and are now just 2-14-2 on the year when trailing entering the third period.

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.