No. 15 Penn State Snaps Losing Streak with a 5-2 Victory Over Michigan at MSG

No. 15 Penn State Snaps Losing Streak with a 5-2 Victory Over Michigan at MSG

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.  – Sophomore Alex Limoges (Winchester, Va.) netted a pair of goals to help lift No. 15 Penn State past Michigan, 5-2, during the fourth-annual B1G Super Saturday at Madison Square Garden this evening.

Penn State snaps a four-game losing streak and moves to 14-10-2 on the year and 6-9-1-1 in conference play while the Wolverines fall to 9-10-6 overall and 5-6-4-2 in Big Ten action following the defeat.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Penn State opened the scoring as it was sophomore Evan Barratt (Bristol, Pa.) who took advantage of a defensive zone turnover by the Wolverines taking the puck and skating into the slot firing under the blocker of Michigan net-minder Hayden Lavigne for the 1-0 edge at 5:52 of the first period.
• Barratt then poke-checked the puck away from Quinn Hughes in the neutral zone and sprung junior Liam Folkes (Scarborough, Ontario) in on a breakaway and he finished past the left pad of Lavigne for the 2-0 margin at 10:54 of the opening frame.
• The Nittany Lions extended the lead further just after killing off a penalty as junior Nikita Pavlcyhev (Yaroslavl, Russia) sprung senior Alec Marsh (Bridgewater, N.J.) in on a breakaway and he fired the puck to the back of the net for the 3-0 advantage at 17:33 of the first period.
• PSU extended the lead further early in the second period as Limoges ripped a rebound shot into a yawning net off Barratt’s initial bid for the 4-0 lead at 1:35 of the frame.
• Michigan finally got on the board after hitting four pipes in the first period the Wolverines cashed in on the doorstep as Luke Morgan chipped in a rebound for the 4-1 deficit at 2:51 of the middle frame.
• The Nittany Lions responded as Limoges intercepted a no-look pass attempt from Hughes in the neutral zone and skated in all alone using a stutter step move to get Lavigne off balance before tucking the puck past his right pad for his second shorthanded tally of the season and the 5-1 lead at 9:08 of the second period.
• The Wolverines cut back into the deficit early in the third period as Will Lockwood finished off a rebound in front of the net for the 5-2 deficit at 3:27 of the final frame, but that was as close as they would get.

GOALTENDING

Jones improves to 10-7-2 on the year after a 35 save performance while Lavigne allowed five goals on 20 shots in just 30:25 of game action to fall to 5-6-3 overall before being lifted for Strauss Mann who didn’t allow a goal while making 19 saves over the final 29:35 of the contest.

NOTES

• Junior classmates Brandon Biro (Sherwood Park, Alberta) and Nate Sucese (Fairport, N.Y.) both skated in their 100th career game on Saturday evening becoming the 4th and 5th different Nittany Lion to reach the 100 career game milestone so far this season.
• With one goal and a pair of assists in the game, Barratt secured his 13th multi-point effort of the season and the 16th of his career.
• With a pair of second period goals, Limoges registered his third multi-goal game this season and the fourth of his career while also recording his 10th multi-point effort this season and the 13th of his career.
• Jones’ 22 first period saves were good enough for a new career-high as well as tying Eamon McAdam’s Penn State single-game record for most saves in a single period.
• The Nittany Lions held the slim 39-37 edge in shots on goal including the decisive 31-15 mark over the final two periods while going 4-for-4 on the penalty kill. Penn State was 0-for-2 on the power-play.
• Penn State secures its first win at Madison Square Garden improving to 1-2-0 at the World’s Most Famous Arena. The Nittany Lions are now 7-0-1 in their last eight games at NHL venues.

NEXT UP

• Penn State will have next weekend off as a bye week before welcoming Minnesota to Pegula Ice Arena for a pair of contests on February 8-9. Both games of the series will air live on the Big Ten Network at 6 p.m. each night.