The Penn State Nittany Lions beat the top-ranked Michigan Wolverines Friday night by a final score of 6-4 at Pegula Ice Arena in University Park.
An explosive three-goal first period set the Nittany Lions in front of the Wolverines. Eric Scheid gave Penn State the early lead, scoring the first goal of the game 3:13 after the puck dropped.
Head coach Guy Gadowsky’s top line was responsible for the next two goals. David Goodwin scored at 7:48 with the helper from Tommy Olczyk and Nate Jensen. Big Ten leading scorer Casey Bailey rounded out the first twenty minutes with an unassisted powerplay goal to give Penn State a three-goal lead to head into the second period.
Scott Conway was quick to put his name on the board in the second period, scoring on the powerplay to pick up the Nittany Lions’ fourth goal just 3:48 after the horn sounded.
Michigan finally struck back 8:38 into the second after Penn State’s Connor Varley was sent to the penalty box for roughing. Andrew Copp scored his fourteenth goal of the season with an assist from Nolan De Jong and JT Compher.
The Wolverines added one more tally to the scoreboard with a goal from Justin Selman with just under four minutes remaining in the period.
With :32 left to play in the second, Dylan Richard took the pass from Scheid and fired it over the shoulder of Wolverine goaltender Steve Racine to give the Nittany Lions a 5-2 lead to start the third period.
Michigan forward Dylan Larkin only needed :44 to fire the puck past Penn State netminder Eamon McAdam to score his thirteenth goal of the season and cut the Lions’ lead to two.
Wolverine forward Dexter Dancs went to the box for slashing, giving Penn State’s Nate Jensen the opportunity to build the lead back up to three after tipping in a rebound on David Glen’s shot with 15:00 left to play. McAdam picked up the secondary assist, marking the first goalie assist in Penn State’s Division I history.
Michigan would have the final goal with just :13 remaining as Cutler Martin finalized the score at 6-4 as time expired.
A total of 19 penalties were collected through 60 minutes of play, 11 of which resulted in a powerplay for either team. The Nittany Lions outshot the Wolverines 41-37.
Penn State’s Jensen, Scheid and Richard received the three stars of the game.
Penn State will wrap up its final home series of the season and celebrate Senior Day on Saturday afternoon. The puck will drop at 3:00 p.m. and coverage will be available on 103.1 WRSC FM radio and Gametracker. The Big Ten will also offer coverage on its paid subscription service, Big Ten Plus.
Photo Credit: GoPSUSports.com
