UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State battled back following a slow start with a freshman trio combining for the game-winning goal early in the third period as the Nittany Lions hung on late to defeat St. Lawrence, 3-2, in non-conference action from Pegula Ice Arena on Friday evening.
🎥 Highlights from Friday night in #HockeyValley as Penn State defeats St. Lawrence, 3-2, in its 2024-25 home opener at Pegula Ice Arena!! pic.twitter.com/67VtTKH8u5
— Penn State Men’s Hockey (@PennStateMHKY) October 26, 2024
HOW IT HAPPENED
St. Lawrence (4-3-0) opened the scoring taking advantage of an offensive zone turnover as Tomas Mazura fed Felikss Gavars at the far circle and he skated into the slot firing a wrister past the blocker of Nittany Lion junior net-minder Arsenii Sergeev (Yaroslavl, Russia) for the 1-0 edge just 49 ticks into the game.
Penn State (3-1-0) evened the contest a 69 seconds later as graduate student Jimmy Dowd Jr. (Point Pleasant Beach, N.J.) danced between the rings slipping a pass backdoor to senior Danny Dzhaniyev (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and he roofed the puck for the 1-1 score at 1:58 of the opening frame.
The Saints continued to press and regained the lead as Greg Lapointe laced a one-timer into the right corner of the net off the bar and in for the 2-1 advantage at the 3:38 mark.
The Nittany Lions tied the contest late in the middle frame after senior Ben Schoen (Maumee, Ohio) caused a neutral zone turnover and slipped the puck to sophomore Aiden Fink (Calgary, Alberta) and he fed classmate Reese Laubach (San Jose, Calif.) streaking down the slot for a one-timer that beat Skating Saint goaltender Mason Kucenski past the blocker for the 2-2 score with just 18 seconds remaining in the stanza.
Penn State grabbed its first lead of the game early in the third period with three freshmen combining for the score as Cade Christenson (Edmonton, Alberta) sent a stretch pass to the blueline received by JJ Wiebusch (Verona, Wis.) and he fed Keaton Peters (Sussex, Wis.) into the zone and he held off a defender skating through the slot and beat Kucenski past the glove for the 3-2 advantage at the 1:28 mark.
"Pretty special moment, to do it in front of @TheRoarZone and here at home at Pegula, just an incredible feeling," - Keaton Peters on his game-winning third period goal.#HockeyValley pic.twitter.com/q1YA9YoeYG
— Penn State Men’s Hockey (@PennStateMHKY) October 26, 2024
GOALTENDING
After allowing the first two past him, Sergeev was perfect stopping the final 14 shots from St. Lawrence to move to 3-1-0 on the year while Kucenski drops to 4-3-0 after making 25 saves in the defeat.
NOTES
Penn State held the 28-16 edge in shots on goal including a 20-9 clip over the final two periods while going 0-for-3 with the man-advantage and a perfect 3-for-3 on the penalty kill moving to 19-for-19 on the year.
The Nittany Lions have now won four-straight home openers moving to 9-3-1 all-time in such contests and 9-2-1 in home openers at Pegula Ice Arena.
Penn State has now won three-straight against St. Lawrence moving its all-time record to 4-2-1 against the Skating Saints.
With his first period goal, Dzhaniyev extends his career-long point streak to nine games, dating back to the last five games of 2023-24 and the first four this season and has now scored in back-to-back games.
Fink pushes his point-streak to five games as he has registered at least one point in the first four games this season and the last of 2023-24.
Penn State improves to 2-1-0 in one-goal games this season.
NEXT UP
Both teams return to Hockey Valley tomorrow afternoon to wrap up the series with a 4 p.m. matinee affair.
For more information on the 2024-25 season, visit the men's hockey page at GoPSUsports.com or call 1-800-NITTANY Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.