No. 6/5 Penn State Hangs on Late to Defeat No. 11 Ohio State, 5-4
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Junior Sam Sternschein (Syosset, N.Y.) opened the scoring and closed the scoring for Penn State as the sixth-ranked Nittany Lions held on down the stretch to defeat No. 11/11 Ohio State, 5-4, on Friday night in Big Ten Conference action at Pegula Ice Arena.
Penn State improves to 10-2-0 on the year and 6-1-0-0 in conference action with the win while The Buckeyes fall to 6-4-1 this season and 2-3-0-0 in Big Ten play. The 6-1 Big Ten record for the Nittany Lions matches their best league start from the 2015-16 season.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Penn State opened the scoring with a power-play goal as Sternschein redirected a point shot from classmate Cole Hults (Stoughton, Wis.) past OSU net-minder Tommy Nappier for the 1-0 edge at 9:52.
- The Buckeyes responded with a man-advantage tally of their own as Carson Meyer was able jam home a lose puck on the doorstep for the 1-1 tie at 12:57.
- The Nittany Lions grabbed the lead back with another power-play tally in the second period as senior Brandon Biro (Sherwood Park, Alberta) found Nappier’s five-hole off a cross-ice feed from Sternschein for the 2-1 advantage at 11:21.
- PSU extended the lead just over a minute later as junior Alex Limoges (Winchester, Va.) finished into a wide-open net to the left of the crease for the 3-1 margin at the 12:38 mark.
- Ohio State cut the deficit to a single goal with another man-advantage goal early in the third period as Gustaf Westlund was left all alone in the slot and his one-timer found the back of the net for the 3-2 score at 3:08.
- Penn State wasted little time regaining the two-goal lead as a strong forecheck led to a Liam Folkes (Scarborough, Ontario) goal as Limoges found him all alone in front for the 4-2 lead just 44 ticks later.
- Sternschein collected his second goal of the game into the empty net after senior Denis Smirnov (Moscow, Russia) blocked a shot and passed the puck off for the 5-2 score at 17:45 of the third period.
- The Buckeyes rallied late as Matthew Jennings one-touched a pass from Sam McCormick with PSU senior goaltender Peyton Jones (Langhorne, Pa.) caught out of position behind the net for the 5-3 deficit at 18:34 of the final frame.
- OSU then got an extra-attacker goal just 33 seconds later making it a one-goal game as Tanner Laczynski ripped a shot past Jones from the left circle for the 5-4 score at 19:07, but Penn State was able to hold on for the victory.
GOALTENDING
Jones improves to 10-1-0 on the year after stopping 28 shots while Nappier falls to 6-4-1 after a 36-save setback.
GADOWSKY POSTGAME
Opening Statement:
I’m just happy that we won. Obviously, they’re a very good team. They came out flying and Peyton [Jones] kept us in there while we got our feet, but I thought once we did, we played alright.
Q: Coach, that third period where Ohio State had two late goals after [Sam] Sternschein hit the empty netter. What happened that allowed them to get some momentum?
A: Yeah, we don’t feel good about that. I think Peyton probably wanted that one back behind the net. Then, as you know, they scored over 48 percent of their goals with man advantage and with another man up 6-5, they’re excellent. I give them credit, but obviously we’d like those few minutes back to be a little more detailed, we might have been in the locker room a few minutes early.
Q: How do you feel about the way [Sam] Sternschein has been playing?
A: I thought he played really well in the defensive zone. When he defines his game well, very simplistic definition of what he does, he seems to just be really good and it seems to affect both ends of the ice for him. I think he had a fortunate night because of playing the right way.
Q: Aside from the goal, how important was it to get [Brandon] Biro back tonight?
A: Yeah, like I said, there’s not a program in the nation that wouldn’t want him in the lineup whether he scores or not because he does so many things that can help you win. You saw it tonight. He hunts pucks as well as anyone in the nation and that’s something that I feel like we have to do more consistently. In that area specifically, he’s great.
NOTES
- Penn State held the 41-32 edge in shots while each team went 2-for-4 with the man-advantage.
- Sternschein has scored at least one goal in six of his last seven games including four-straight for the first time in his career. His nine goals are now tied for first in the Big Ten and fifth in the nation as he collects his second multi-goal game of the season and the third of his career. With a second period assist, Sternschein finished the game with a career-high three points marking his fourth multi-point game this season and the eighth of his career, his four-game point streak also ties a career-high.
- Barratt, Limoges and Sucese each extended their season-long point-streaks to four games while Barratt and Limoges now have four-straight multi-point games to their credit. For each it marks the fourth this season and 21st of their careers.
- With a pair of assists, Hults secured his fourth multi-point game this season and the 16th of his career and is now tied with Luke Juha ’16 for the Penn State program record for points by a defenseman with 60 for his career.
- Hults also moves into a tie for ninth on the Penn State all-time assists list with 47 for his career placing him third among defenseman passing Juha. With his one assist, Limoges is tied with Hults for ninth on the all-time assists list.
- With his lone goal, Biro now has 104 points in his Penn State career tying him with Andrew Sturtz for fifth on the all-time scoring list.
- With a pair of power-play goals, Penn State now leads the nation with 17 man-advantage tallies this season and has scored multiple PPG’s in five games and at least one PPG in four-straight and six-of-seven games.
NEXT UP
Both teams return to action tomorrow evening as they close out the weekend series at Pegula Ice Arena with a 6 p.m. puck drop.