Men's Hockey Fights Back, Falls Late at No. 17/16 Ohio State, 4-2Men's Hockey Fights Back, Falls Late at No. 17/16 Ohio State, 4-2
CRAIG HOUTZ

Men's Hockey Fights Back, Falls Late at No. 17/16 Ohio State, 4-2

Penn State clawed back from an early two-goal deficit, but ultimately fell to No. 17/16 Ohio State, 4-2, in Big Ten Conference action on Friday evening inside Value City Arena.

Box Score

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Penn State clawed back from an early two-goal deficit, but ultimately fell to No. 17/16 Ohio State, 4-2, in Big Ten Conference action on Friday evening inside Value City Arena.

The Nittany Lions drop to 6-9-0 on the year and 0-8-0-0-1-0 in Big Ten action with the setback while the Buckeyes improve to 11-4-1 overall and 4-2-0-1-0-0 in league play with the win.

HOW IT HAPPENED

  • The Buckeyes opened the scoring taking advantage of an early five-minute major against Penn State as Damien Carfagna sent the puck through traffic from the high slot, and it hit off the far post and trickled into the net for the 1-0 edge at the 8:31 mark.
  • Gunnarwolfe Fontaine then sent a wrister through traffic from the slot that was redirected by Riley Thompson and past Nittany Lion junior goaltender John Seifarth (Pittsburgh, Pa.) pushing the Buckeye lead to 2-0 during a 5-on-3 powerplay as part of the major penalty at the 11:38 mark of the opening stanza.
  • Penn State cut the deficit in half taking advantage of a major powerplay of its own as freshman JJ Wiebusch (Verona, Wis.) slipped a behind-the-back pass from behind the net to senior Dylan Lugris (Buffalo, N.Y.) at the near post and with Buckeye net-minder Kristoffer Eberly following Wiebusch across the crease Lugris had a yawning net and he did not miss for the 2-1 score at the 14:48 mark of the first period.
  • The Nittany Lions pulled the game even early in the third period as right after a successful penalty kill sophomore Aiden Fink (Calgary, Alberta) skated into the zone on an odd-man rush and feathered a pass out front that was redirected by graduate student Tyler Paquette (Collegeville, Pa.) and over the glove of Eberly for the 2-2 score just 1:44 into the frame.
  • Ohio State regained the lead off an odd-man rush as Joe Dunlap found Jake Rozzi and he beat Seifarth through the five-hole for the 3-2 score at 13:06 of the third period.
  • Max Montes then hit the empty net with 1:20 remaining in the third period to seal the victory and series sweep for the Buckeyes.

GOALTENDING

Seifarth falls to 2-2-0 on the year following a 29-save effort in the loss while Eberly moves to 7-1-0 on the year after stopping 27-of-29 shots he faced in the victory.

NOTES

  • Ohio State held the slim 33-29 edge in shots on goal while going 2-for-6 on the man-advantage.
  • Penn State was 1-for-3 on the powerplay in the game.
  • Penn State once again dominated at the dot going 41-for-70 (58.6 percent) paced by sophomore Dane Dowiak (Pittsburgh, Pa.) who went 13-for-19 (68.4 percent) and senior Carson Dyck (Lethbridge, Alberta) who was 10-for-14 (71.4 percent).
  • The goal for Paquette was his first of the season snapping a 15-game goalless streak dating back to March 1 also against these Buckeyes in Columbus.

NEXT UP

Penn State closes out the first semester of competition against Army West Point next Thursday with a single contest at 8 p.m. as part of the Capital Hockey Classic at Capital One Arena.

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.