Minnesota Falls in Opener with Penn State

Minnesota Falls in Opener with Penn State

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Tyler Sheehy scored a pair of goals for the Gophers on Friday night, but it wasn’t enough as Minnesota dropped a 7-2 conference contest to No. 18 Penn State at Pegula Ice Arena.

Sheehy, who is Minnesota’s active leading scorer and ranks second among all active NCAA players, now sits with 142 career points (54 goals, 88 assists) – tied with All-American and Hobey Baker Award winner Neal Broten for 34th on Minnesota’s career scoring list.

Minnesota (11-13-4 overall, 8-7-3-0 Big Ten) surrendered five-straight goals to Penn State before Sheehy’s initial tally of the game – a power-play goal set up by Rem Pitlick and Brannon McManus in the second period. Pitlick (10 games) and McManus (nine games) both extended their career-long point streaks on the play while the power play (1-for-4) found the net for the eighth-straight game.

Down 6-2 after the first 40 minutes, Sheehy lit the lamp again less than a minute into the third period for his 10th goal of the season – this time being set up by Jack Sadek and Brent Gates Jr. Sadek continued his best offensive season for the Gophers with his 10th assists and 13th point of the year.

Penn State (15-10-2, 7-9-1-1) added a seventh goal to deal the Gophers their worst defeat of the season.

Mat Robson took the loss for Minnesota, making six saves on nine shots to move to 9-9-4 on the year. Eric Schierhorn took over in goal midway through the first period with 29 saves on 33 shots. Peyton Jones made 24 saves to pick up the win and improve to 11-7-2.

Minnesota and Penn State meet for the fourth and final time during the regular season on Saturday at 5 p.m. CT on the Big Ten Network. Tickets for the Maroon & Gold’s remaining two home series against Notre Dame (Feb. 22-23) and Arizona State (March 1-2) are available at GopherSports.com.

Notes: Minnesota was outshot 42-26 in the game…Sheehy’s next target on the all-time points list is Jordan Leopold at 144 points…Sheehy and Pitlick have now tallied points in 18 of the last 19 games…Penn State’s power-play goal in the second period snapped Minnesota’s streak at 19-straight kills without allowing a goal.