MADISON, Wis. – Sophomore Reese Laubach (San Jose, Calif.) tallied twice and a four-goal third period paced Penn State to a, 6-2, victory and series sweep against No. 19/20 Wisconsin in Big Ten Conference action at the Kohl Center on Saturday evening.
The Nittany Lions improve to 14-11-3 on the year and 5-10-3-1-1-2 in league play while Wisconsin drops to 11-16-3 overall and 6-13-1-1-6-0 in conference action.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Badgers opened the scoring with a powerplay goal midway through the first period as Kyle Kukkonen deposited a loose puck atop the goal crease for the 1-0 edge at the 11:57 mark.
- The Nittany Lions evened the score after freshman Charlie Cerrato (Fallston, Md.) won an offensive zone draw cleanly back to the point and classmate Cade Christenson (Edmonton, Alberta) laced a wrister through traffic that Wisconsin net-minder Tommy Scarfone never saw for the 1-1 score at 14:58 of the opening stanza.
- Penn State then grabbed the lead in the middle frame as Laubach finished from the low slot off a pretty feed from senior Danny Dzhaniyev (Brooklyn, N.Y.) at the near post for the 2-1 edge at the 6:36 mark.
- The Nittany Lions extended the lead early in the third period as Laubach potted his second of the game and third of the weekend off an arial feed from Dzhaniyev as he split a pair of defenders and skated in alone beating Scarfone over the blocker for the 3-1 advantage at the 4:49 mark.
- Wisconsin cut the deficit back to a single goal as Ryland Mosley laced a shot through traffic from the slot during the man-advantage for the 3-2 score at 6:26 of the third period.
- Penn State regained the two-goal margin with a man-advantage tally of its own as Cerrato found sophomore Matt DiMarsico (Wexford, Pa.) in the slot and he roofed a wrister over the blocker of Scarfone for the 4-2 edge at 12:44 of the final frame.
- Cerrato responded less than three minutes later with a 5-on-3 tally as he laced a wrister past Scarfone for the 5-2 margin at the 15:08 mark.
- Sophomore Aiden Fink (Calgary, Alberta) then deflected a shot from senior Simon Mack (Brockville, Ontario) into the empty net for a shorthanded goal at the 17:41 mark for the 6-2 final.
GOALTENDING
- Junior Arsenii Sergeev (Yaroslavl, Russia) moves to 11-6-3 on the year after making 39 saves in the victory.
- Sergeev set a career-high stopping all 22 shots he faced during the second period to tie the Penn State single-period program record for saves held by both Eamon McAdam and Peyton Jones.
- Scarfone falls to 9-12-3 after making 16 saves in the loss.
NOTES
- Wisconsin held the commanding 41-22 edge in shots on goal including an eye-popping 22-5 mark during the second period.
- Penn State went 2-for-8 with the man-advantage in the game while the Badgers were 2-for-5.
- Laubach now has multiple points in five of his six games since returning for injury as he secured his third multi-goal game of the season and the fourth of his career while registering his eighth multi-point effort of the year and the 13th of his career.
- With three assists Dzhaniyev ties his career-high for points and assists while collecting his seventh multi-point game of the season and the 23rd of his career.
- With one goal and a pair of assists, Cerrato has a new career-best three points and secures his ninth multi-point effort of the season.
- With one goal and one assist, Fink secures his team-leading 12th multi-point game of the season and becomes just the eighth Nittany Lion all-time to reach the 40-point mark, the first since four separate players reached that mark during the 2018-19 season.
- Fink’s 41 points are now the fifth-most in a single season in program history while his 21 goals are good for the fourth-most in a single-season and are just two shy of Alex Limoges ’21 program record of 23.
- Mack’s assist ties him with Luke Juha ’16 for the fifth-most among defensemen in Penn State history while his 54 career points are now one shy of Trevor Hamilton ’18 for seventh all-time among Nittany Lion blue-liners. His 19 assists on the season are the sixth-most for a defenseman in Penn State single-season history.
- Fink’s shorty is his second of the season and the seventh for the Nittany Lions as they are now tied with Arizona State for the second most in the nation behind UConn’s eight.
- Penn State improves to a perfect 13-0-0 when leading after two periods and are now 11-4-1 when scoring first this season.
NEXT UP
Penn State returns home next weekend to battle Notre Dame in a Valentine’s Weekend clash in Hockey Valley.
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.