The Penn State Nittany Lions (15-10-4, 7-5-1-0 Big Ten) could not complete the upset and fell 2-1 in the first of a two-game series against the fifteenth-ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers (17-9-3, 8-2-3-0 Big Ten) at Pegula Ice Area in University Park.
Left winger David Goodwin put Penn State on the board with his thirteenth goal of the year 12:43 into the first period off of a nod from fellow first line center Taylor Holstrom and freshman Erik Autio.
Penn State dominated the first period with 15 shots on goal and looked like it was headed to an upset victory over a nationally ranked opponent. However, the Nittany Lions were ultimately outmaneuvered by the Golden Gophers, taking bad penalties and lazy shots.
“I just felt like we weren’t committed enough to stay out of the box,” Head coach Guy Gadowsky said. “It doesn’t take Scotty Bowman to figure out that they are pretty good on the power play. We just didn’t show up in the second period.”
Minnesota was quiet in the first period, but attacked in the second. The Gophers scored twice in three minutes to take the lead from the Nittany Lions and quiet Pegula.
Senior Christian Isackson started things off for Minnesota, sailing the puck past Nittany Lion goaltender PJ Musico 2:19 into the second period.
Penn State’s frustration was evident as Zach Saar took a hooking penalty to set up the nation’s best powerplay unit. Justin Kloos used the opportunity to fire the game-winning goal shortly after off of an assist from Brady Skjei and Michael Brodzinski.
The third period left the two teams on relatively equal footing; neither team would score again, but Minnesota spent the remaining time fending off offensive attacks from Penn State as the Lions outshot the Gophers 15-9 in the final twenty minutes.
Musico left the ice with 2:03 remaining to play, allowing the Nittany Lions to skate with six men. However, Wilcox was solid between the pipes and had several acrobatic saves to pull out the win for the Golden Gophers, despite the barrage of shots from the Lions.
This win gave Minnesota the outright first-place standing in the Big Ten.
This is Penn State’s third straight loss, but only the second home defeat of the season. The Nittany Lions are now 0-5-0 against the Gophers.
Saturday’s game will be broadcasted on ESPNU and BTN2Go; the puck will drop at 5:00 p.m.
Photo Credit: GoPSUSports.com
