SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The fifth-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions fought back late earning a point and forcing overtime, but Notre Dame registered the 4-3 victory in Big Ten Conference action at Compton Family Ice Arena on Saturday evening.
Penn State falls to 20-10-2 overall and 12-8-2 in Big Ten play following the loss while the Irish move to 7-22-5 on the year and 3-17-2 in conference play. The Nittany Lions 41 points are now tied for their conference-best dating back to the 2019-20 season.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Nittany Lions opened the scoring as freshman Gavin McKenna (Whitehorse, Yukon) slipped a defender behind the net before finding junior Casey Aman (Johnstown, Pa.) driving the low slot and after having his initial chance stopped, he followed it up tucking the rebound into a yawning net for the 1-0 edge at 2:58 of the first period.
- The Irish evened the contest late in the first frame as a Penn State defenseman mishandled the puck in the defensive zone and Max Fleming corralled it between the rings beating Nittany Lion sophomore net-minder Kevin Reidler (Gavle, Sweden) past the blocker for the 1-1 score at the 18:10 mark.
- Notre Dame then grabbed the lead with just 6.5 ticks remaining in the first period capitalizing on a late powerplay as Danny Nelson roofed a rebound for the 2-1 lead heading into the intermission.
- Penn State brought the game even just after the middle point of the second period as sophomore Cade Christenson (Edmonton, Alberta) slipped in his own rebound just after an Irish powerplay expired for the 2-2 score at the 13:22 mark.
- The Irish regained the lead midway through the third period as Danny Nelson went shortside with a wrister beating Reidler past the blocker for the 3-2 advantage at the 9:17 mark.
- The Nittany Lions fought back tying the contest late as freshman Luke Misa (Oakville, Ontario) redirected a point shot from junior Mac Gadowsky (State College, Pa.) between the rings and past the blocker of Irish goaltender Nicholas Kempf for the 3-3 score at 17:45 of the third period.
- Just 47 ticks into overtime the Irish collected a rebound in front of Reidler and Axel Kumlin beat him past the blocker for the golden goal and 4-3 victory.
GOALTENDING
Reidler falls to 11-6-0 on the year after making 19 saves in the loss while Kempf stopped 26 shots moving to 7-19-5 overall.
NOTES
- Notre Dame held the, 33-29, edge in shots on goal while going 1-for-5 on the powerplay and a perfect 4-for-4 on the penalty kill.
- McKenna extends his point streak to five games, tying his season long while registering his 14th multi-point effort of the season. McKenna’s 46 points are good for the fourth-most in a single-season in Penn State history and are just one shy of Denis Smirnov’s freshman record of 47.
- With a pair of assists, Fink breaks a tie with Chase Berger ’19 for fourth on the Penn State all-time points list with 120 for his career while registering his 11th multi-point game of the season, fourth-straight, and the 35th of his career.
- Freshman Shea Van Olm (Calgary, Alberta) was held off the scoresheet seeing his three-game goal and point streaks come to an end.
NEXT UP
Penn State returns home next week for its final regular-season series of the season as the No. 12 Wisconsin Badgers visit Hockey Valley for a Thursday-Friday set.
For more information on the 2025-26 season, visit the men's hockey page at GoPSUsports.com or call 1-800-NITTANY Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.