Three Late Goals Doom No. 6 Penn State as No. 5 Ohio State Manages Series Split with 5-2 Victory

Three Late Goals Doom No. 6 Penn State as No. 5 Ohio State Manages Series Split with 5-2 Victory

COLUMBUS, Ohio – No. 6 Penn State surrendered three third period goals in the final three minutes including a pair of empty-net tallies as No. 5 Ohio State secured the series split with a 5-2 victory in Big Ten Conference action this evening at Value City Arena.

The loss drops the Nittany Lions to 10-3-0 on the year and 2-2-0-0 in Big Ten action while the Buckeyes improve to 9-4-1 overall and 4-2-0-0 in conference play.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Ohio State once again opened the scoring as Mason Jobst crashed the net for a rebound goal off Gustaf Westlund’s initial shot for the 1-0 lead at 4:32 of the first period.
• Penn State potted the equalizer with less than a second to go in the frame as freshman Aarne Talvitie (Espoo, Finland) collected the puck in the neutral zone and skated through the slot ripping a laser over the glove of Ohio State sophomore net-minder Tommy Nappier for the 1-1 score with just 0.4 ticks left.
• The Nittany Lions then grabbed the lead as sophomore Alex Limoges (Winchester, Va.) was the beneficiary of some great passing from senior Kevin Kerr (Bensalem, Pa.) and junior Brandon Biro (Sherwood Park, Alberta) on the power-play as he finished on the doorstep for the 2-1 lead just 105 seconds into the middle frame.
• The Buckeyes evened the contest with a power-play goal of their own as Matt Miller ripped a shot from the slot the redirected off the back of Ronnie Hein and past PSU junior goaltender Peyton Jones (Langhorne, Pa.) for the 2-2 score at 12:56 of the second period.
• Dakota Joshua then gave the hosts the lead back with a strong move to the middle off the ice off an offensive zone draw and he beat Jones to the blocker side for the 3-2 edge at 17:43 of the final frame.
• Sasha Larocque and Brendon Kearney then each hit the empty net at 18:49 and 19:56 for the 5-2 final score.

GOALTENDING

Jones falls to 6-2-0 on the year after allowing three goals while making 28 saves as Nappier improves to 5-1-1 overall after stopping 38 pucks.

NOTES

• Penn State has surrendered the opening goal in three of its four Big Ten contests so far this season and seven times overall with a 4-3-0 record in such games.
• Penn State held the 40-33 edge in shots while going 1-for-4 with the man-advantage as the Nittany Lions have now scored at least one man-advantage goal in seven straight games. Ohio State was 1-for-6 on the power-play.
• Penn State falls to 10-2-0 on the year when leading or tied heading into the final frame.
• Sophomore Evan Barratt (Bristol, Pa.) sees his career-best and program record 11-game point-streak and seven-game goal-streak snapped as he was kept off the scoresheet for just the second time all season.
• Junior Liam Folkes (Scarborough, Ontario) also sees his career-best five-game point-streak snapped.
• The Nittany Lions surrendered three shorthanded goals over the weekend including two tonight with the empty-net. This marks the first time since January 9, 2016 that Penn State has surrendered more than one empty-net goal.

NEXT UP

Penn State continues its four-game road swing as they travel to Wisconsin for a pair of Big Ten Conference games next weekend on Friday and Saturday evening.