‘U’ Drops Series Finale to Penn State
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – A waved-off goal for Minnesota in the first minute of play changed the tide of Saturday’s series finale as the Gopher Hockey program suffered a 6-2 loss to Penn State at Pegula Ice Arena.
Minnesota (11-14-4 overall, 8-9-3-0 Big Ten) found goals from Brent Gates Jr. and Sammy Walker while Clayton Phillips snapped a 15-game point drought with his second career multi-point game.
Gates opened the night by putting the puck in the net in the first minute of action although a review negated the goal due to too many players on the ice. Instead, it was Penn State (16-10-2, 8-9-1-1) jumping out in front soon after with a Nate Sucese goal at 2:10 followed by a waved off goal for Penn State that was also reviewed and called off due to too many men on the ice. Gates officially found the net later in the period with his 11th of the season off assists from Rem Pitlick and Clayton Phillips at 15:15 to send the game into the first intermission tied 1-1.
Walker gave Minnesota its first lead of the weekend 11:40 into the second period with his ninth of the year, set up by Blake McLaughlin and Phillips. But the Nittany Lions rattled off five-straight goals over the last 30 minutes of play to pick up the win.
Mat Robson made 42 saves for the Gophers, moving to 9-10-4. Peyton Jones picked up the win with 22 saves to improve to 12-7-2.
Minnesota returns to action next weekend with a Big Ten series at Ohio State on 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: The Gophers were outshot 48-24 in the loss…Pitlick extended his career-long point streak to 11 games and has now picked up points in 19 of the last 20 games…Brannon McManus’ career long nine-game point streak came to an end…Minnesota’s power-play failed to score for the first time in nine games (0-for-1 tonight)…tonight’s game was just the second time in the last 20 games that Tyler Sheehy failed to tally a point…Minnesota appeared to score late in the third period but the goal was waved off due to offsides.