Penn State falls to Ohio State, 4-3, in series split

by:William James12/03/22

The No. 6-ranked Penn State men’s hockey program’s Big Ten series sweep woes continue as they dropped the series finale to the No. 17-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes, 4-3, to split the series Saturday Night at Pegula. The Nittany Lions fell to 14-4 on the season and 6-4 in Big Ten play.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Unlike Friday night’s 2-1 win for Penn State, this game started with some fast scoring. 

A little more than two minutes into this game, Kevin Wall got the scoring started for the Nittany Lions. His shorthanded goal was assisted by Ben Schoen and Jarod Crespo. 

The Buckeyes quickly answered the goal. Less than 30 seconds later, Jake Wise put the Buckeyes on the board with his goal assisted by Michael Gildon with 17:09 left in the first period. 

Three minutes later, Jaedon Leslie of the Buckeyes added another goal, with the assist coming from Dalton Messina and Mason Lohrei. This gave Ohio State a 2-1 lead. 

The scoring didn’t stop there. In four-on-four action, Danny Dzhaniyev tied the game up for the Nittany Lions with his goal with 6:03 to play, assisted by Jimmy Dowd Jr. and Ryan Kirwan. 

This tied the game for about 54 seconds. 

TURNING POINT

After some impressive Ohio State passing, Tate Singleton buried a slapshot from the right side of the ice, assisted by Lohrei and Cole McWard. This gave the Buckeyes a 3-2 lead going into the second period. 

The second period was a completely different game. Unlike the first period with many penalties and a storm of goals, the second period only had one penalty and one goal. 

The lone goal of the period came from Joe Dunlap of the Buckeyes, assisted by Patrick Guzzo with 15:46 to play in the period. 

After the goal, the period was quiet with little action, leaving Ohio State to take its 4-2 lead into the third period. 

The third period was the tightest of them all. Both teams fought their hardest, the Nittany Lions to scrap back into the game, and the Buckeyes to hold on to their lead. Ture Linden scored a goal with 13:38 to play in the third period, assisted by Schoen and Simon Mack, but unfortunately for the Nittany Lions, that was the only score of the period. 

It was a battle to the very end. The Lions fell short of the Buckeyes in tonight’s contest. 

TAKEAWAYS

• “We deserved to win this game more than we did last night,” said head coach Guy Gadowsky. “Either one of these games could have gone either way.” 

Gadowsky mentioned how close each of these games was, and he wasn’t wrong. Both of the games this weekend were hard-fought, and the outcome could have been entirely different depending on some of the smallest details of each game. 

• “Rankings don’t mean anything at all, standings don’t mean anything, it’s all a bunch of crap.” Paul DeNaples said about their upcoming matchup in South Bend against Notre Dame. 

Notre Dame is lower in the Big Ten this year, and lower ranked than its usual position. But the mentality that DeNaples has is a strong one. He mentioned how the team knows that every Big Ten team is good, no matter what they are ranked, as well as “nobody wants to get swept.” This has played a major factor in the team’s inability to sweep a Big Ten opponent since Wisconsin back in late October. 

• On the topic of series sweeps, Penn State went its fourth Big Ten series in a row without getting a sweep. This has been a struggle for the team, and though it has yet to be swept in Big Ten play, the Lions still cannot complete their game-two groove. 

WHAT’S NEXT FOR PENN STATE

The Nittany Lions will head to South Bend, Ind., to take on Notre Dame on Friday, Dec. 9 at 7 p.m.

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