ANN ARBOR, Mich. – No. 10 and third-seeded Penn State dropped a, 5-2, contest to No. 1 and second-seeded Michigan in Big Ten Tournament semifinal action at Yost Ice Arena on Saturday evening.
Penn State drops to 21-13-2 overall with the loss while the Wolverines improve to 28-7-1 on the year with the victory.
The Nittany Lions will now await an at-large bid and see where they end up for the NCAA Tournament when the field is announced next Sunday, March 22.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Wolverines opened the scoring with the benefit of a weird bounce as a Nittany Lion was attempting to swipe the puck away as it was sitting in the goal crease, instead it went into the net for the 1-0 Michigan lead at 16:28 of the first period. The goal was credited to Garrett Schifsky.
- Penn State responded just after a powerplay expired as freshman Gavin McKenna (Whitehorse, Yukon) skated into the high slot before flicking a wrister through traffic and inside the near post past Wolverine net-minder Jack Ivankovic for the 1-1 score with just 61 ticks remaining in the opening frame.
- Michigan regained the lead with a shorthanded tally as Schifsky secured his second of the game on a one-timer from the low slot off a feed from Nick Moldenhauer for the 2-1 edge at 6:57 of the second period.
- The hosts extended the lead to a pair just past the midway point of the second period as the skated in on a 2-on-0 rush and Cole McKinney finished a feed from Moldenhauer at the far post for the 3-1 advantage at the 12:14 mark.
- The Nittany Lions cut the deficit in half early in the third period as freshman Jackson Smith (Calgary, Alberta) found classmate Lev Katzin (Thornhill, Ontario) wide-open at the far post with a beautiful pass through the seam from the high slot and the rookie didn’t miss for the 3-2 deficit at the 6:09 mark.
- The Wolverines regained the two-goal edge taking advantage of a 5-on-3 man-advantage as Michael Hage picked the corner past the glove of Penn State freshman goaltender Josh Fleming (Montreal, Quebec) for the 4-2 score at 12:02 of the third period.
- TJ Hughes then hit the empty net with just 30 ticks remaining to account for the 5-2 final.
GOALTENDING
Fleming falls to 10-6-2 on the season after making 34 saves in the loss while Ivankovic improves to 22-7-1 after stopping 27-of-29 shots in the victory.
NOTES
- Michigan held the, 39-29, edge in shots on goal while going a perfect 6-for-6 on the penalty kill including scoring a shorthanded goal and going 1-for-3 on the powerplay.
- The Nittany Lions fall to just 2-7 in Big Ten semifinal contests and have now lost four-straight.
- Penn State slips to 17-15 in Big Ten Tournament play all-time and is now 4-2 all-time against Michigan with the loss snapping a streak of three-straight wins by the Nittany Lions over the Wolverines in postseason play.
- With his first period goal, McKenna extends his career-long, point-streak to nine games, two shy of Evan Barrett’s program record of 11 games from the fall of 2018. With 51 points now he breaks a tie with Alex Limoges ’21 for the second-most points in a single-season just two shy of Aiden Fink’s program record from last season.
- McKenna’s 15 goals on the year are also tied with Fink and Charlie Cerrato for the fifth-most in a single-season by a Nittany Lion freshman.
- Smith’s 26 points are now tied with Trevor Hamilton ’18 for the sixth-most in a single-season by a Nittany Lion defenseman.
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