ANN ARBOR Mich. – No. 2 Michigan raced out to an early three-goal lead and managed to hang on for the, 6-3, victory in Big Ten Conference action at Yost Ice Arena on Friday night.
Penn State drops to 2-8-1 on the year and 0-4-1 in Big Ten play while the Wolverines improve to 9-1-0 overall and 2-1-0 in conference action following the win.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Michigan opened the scoring just 1:42 into the first period as Jack Nesbitt redirected a shot from Ben Robertson to the left of the goal crease the shot up over the shoulder of Nittany Lion sophomore net-minder Josh Fleming for the 1-0 edge.
- The Wolverines increased the lead to a pair as Landon Dupont sent a cross-ice pass to Drew Schock at the far post and he didn’t miss the yawning net redirecting the feed into the net for the 2-0 advantage at the 3:29 mark.
- The hosts continued to pile it on early as Malcolm Spence ripped a shot from the slot during the powerplay for the 3-0 margin at 6:06 of the first period.
- Penn State cut into the deficit with a man-advantage tally of its own as sophomore Justin Poirier skated into the right circle before unleashing a wicked wrister that blew past the blocker of Wolverine goaltender Jack Ivankovic and inside the far post for the 3-1 score at 8:33 of the first frame.
- The visitors cut the deficit to a single goal early in the second period as freshman Shea Busch laced a wrist shot shortside from the right dot off a feed from classmate Kale Dach for the 3-2 score just 83 ticks into the frame.
- Michigan regained the two-goal advantage midway through the second stanza as Aidan Park deflected a point shot from Schock with bodies out front and Fleming never saw it at the 10:01 mark.
- The Nittany Lions once again cut the deficit to a single goal as senior Reese Laubach lifted the puck over the glove of Ivankovic following a beautiful zone entry from sophomore Lev Katzin for the 4-3 score at 3:47 of the third period.
- Penn State appeared to tie the contest as sophomore Justin Larose sent a one-timer bar-down at the 7:06 mark, however, Michigan challenged for offsides and the call was overturned keeping the lead with the hosts.
- After Poirier rang the iron at the other end a blocked shot turned into a yawning net for Nick Moldenhauer as he tapped it in at the far post for the 5-3 lead at 18:01 of the third period.
- Ben Robertson then hit the empty net with 39.8 seconds remaining to account for the 6-3 final.
GOALTENDING
Fleming made 29 saves while falling to 1-5-1 with the loss while Ivankovic improves to 9-1-0 after stopping 28 shots in the victory.
NOTES
- Michigan held the 35-31 edge in shots on goal while both teams went 1-for-3 on the man-advantage.
- Penn State has now scored at least one powerplay goal in three-straight games and seven of its last nine.
- With his first period goal Poirier extends his career-long point streak to eight games as he now has points in all but one game so far this season.
- With a pair of assists Katzin has now extended his career-long point streak to three games while surpassing his rookie season point total with seven points now in just nine games after collecting six in 36 games last season. It also marks his second multi-point effort of the season and his career and is a career-best for assists in a game.
- Laubach secured his 20th point and 12th goal in 15 career games against the Wolverines.
NEXT UP
Both teams return to Yost tomorrow night to close out the weekend series with a second-consecutive 7 p.m. puck drop.
For more information on the 2026-27 season, visit the men's hockey page at GoPSUsports.com or call 1-800-NITTANY Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.