Penn State’s Offense Erupts to Trounce Robert Morris, 11-6
PITTSBURGH, Pa. – Junior Nikita Pavlychev (Yaroslavl, Russia) secured his second-straight multi-goal game to help lift No. 8 Penn State past Robert Morris, 11-6, on Saturday evening in non-conference action to close out the season series at Colonials Arena.
The 11 goals scored by Penn State is a new single-game record surpassing the 10 goals scored against Union in the 2017 NCAA Midwest Regional Semifinal. It is also the most goals ever allowed by Robert Morris in a single game.
The Nittany Lions are now 8-1-0 on the year while the Colonials fall to 3-6-1 to date.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Penn State opened the scoring early as junior Liam Folkes (Scarborough, Ontario) skated hard to the net through the left slot and beat RMU net-minder Francis Marotte off the post and in on the short-side for the 1-0 lead just 64 seconds into the contest.
- The Colonials evened the score taking advantage of an odd-man rush as Luke Lynch finished off a feed from Alex Tonge for a shorthanded goal at 3:36 of the first period for the 1-1 score.
- Tonge then tilted the score in favor of the hosts as he ripped a wrister from the right dot during the man-advantage for the 2-1 score at 9:49 of the first period.
- The Nittany Lions tied the contest as freshman Max Sauvé (Achushnet, Mass.) made a strong play on the half wall to keep the puck in the offensive zone and he found sophomore Cole Hults (Stoughton, Wis.) who fed Pavlychev on the doorstep for the finish and 2-2 score at 12:32 of the opening stanza.
- Sophomore Evan Barratt (Bristol, Pa.) then finished off a cross-ice pass from classmate Alex Stevens (Plymouth, Minn.) during the power-play for the 3-2 lead at 14:40, however, it was short lived as a strange bounce off the back glass on a dump into the zone fooled PSU junior goaltender Peyton Jones (Langhorne, Pa.) and Nick Prkusic corralled the loose puck and lifted it into the vacant net for the 3-3 score just 44 ticks later.
- Penn State wasted little time grabbing the lead in the second period as Pavlychev notched his second of the game and fourth in two nights as he wrapped the puck around from behind the net and in for the 4-3 lead just 21 seconds into the middle frame.
- RMU came right back notching its second power-play tally of the night as Tonge ripped the puck over the left shoulder of Jones from below the right dot for the 4-4 score at 1:53.
- The Nittany Lions then scored two quick ones just 19 seconds apart as junior Kris Myllari (Kanata, Ontario) lit the lamp at 10:09 before junior Nate Sucese (Fairport, N.Y.) ripped one home at 10:28 for the 6-4 lead.
- Sophomore Sam Sternschein (Syosset, N.Y.) extended the lead to three goals as he fired from the slot past the blocker of Colonial net-minder Reid Cooper for the 7-4 advantage at 12:34.
- Sauvé then notched his first career goal as he banged home a rebound to the left of the net for the 8-4 margin at 15:56.
- Penn State kept the pressure on as Myllari and Hults registered goals less than a minute apart for the 10-4 score at the 2:44 mark of the final period.
- Limoges then finished off a feed from Barratt to make the score 11-4 at the 7:17 mark.
- Tonge took advantage of turnover by Penn State in the defensive zone and registered his first career hat-trick for the 11-5 deficit at 9:43 of the final frame. Aidan Spellacy added a late power-play goal with just 20 seconds remaining for the 11-6 final.
GOALTENDING
Jones improved to 4-1-0 on the year after stopping 34 shots while Cooper takes the loss falling to 0-1-0 on the year after making 13 while allowing four goals over 29:31 of ice time after taking over for Marotte. Marotte, who eventually returned to the game, stopped 22 shots while allowing seven goals.
NOTES
- Penn State improves to 7-0-0 on the season when entering the third period with the lead or tied. Penn State is now 6-4-0 all-time against Robert Morris.
- The Nittany Lions held the slim 46-40 edge in shots while going 1-for-3 with the man-advantage. RMU was 3-for-8 on the power-play while also registering the first shorthanded goal allowed by the Nittany Lions this season.
- With three more third period goals, Penn State is now outscoring its opponents 22-6 in the final frame this season.
- Barratt, Pavlychev and Limoges each extended their career-long point streaks to eight games. Barratt has now also scored at least one goal in four straight games, which is a new career-best goal streak.
- Pavlychev added his second-straight two goal effort marking his fourth multi-point effort this season and the eighth of his career. Barratt secured his second-straight multi-point effort and his fifth of the season and eight of his career while Limoges collected his sixth multi-point effort this season and the ninth of his career.
- Both Pavlychev and Limoges are now tied for second in the entire NCAA with 16 points through the first nine games this season. For Pavlychev that is a new career-high surpassing the 14 points he collected as a sophomore. The duo also now leads the Big Ten in goals with seven to rank tied for fourth nationally.
- Junior Denis Smirnov (Moscow, Russia) added a third period assist to extend his point-streak to six games and he is now tied with Casey Bailey for fourth on the Penn State all-time points list with 80 for his career.
- Playing in his first career game, Sauvé noted a multi-point effort with one goal and one assist.
- Talvitie notched his second-consecutive multi-point effort this season with a pair of assists while Stevens collects the first multi-point game of his career with two helpers of his own.
- Myllari tied his career-high with three points while notching the fourth multi-goal game of his career as he is now tied with Vince Pedrie for the Penn State record for goals by a defenseman with 16. Adding his 24th career assist, the junior passed Connor Varley ’16 and is now sixth on the Penn State all-time list for assists by a defenseman. It was the junior’s second mulkti-point game this season and the sixth of his career.
- Hults also tied his career-high with three points on one goal and a pair of assists and now also has 24 for his career to tie Myllari on the Penn State all-time list. He also registered his first multi-point game this season and the sixth of his career. The sophomore now ranks eighth on the Penn State all-time scoring list for defenseman with 28 points passing David Thompson ’17.
NEXT UP
Penn State returns home to open Big Ten Conference play next weekend as the Nittany Lions host the Michigan Wolverines in a two-game series on Friday and Saturday at Pegula Ice Arena.