Penn State splits with Notre Dame, losing 5-3 Saturday
The No. 5-ranked Penn State men’s hockey program split the series with the No. 19-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish as they took a 5-3 loss Saturday night in South Bend, Ind. It followed an opening-night win on Friday.
Penn State is now 15-5 on the season and 7-5 in Big Ten Play.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The first game of the series was filled with first-period scoring. Saturday night, not so much.
The Nittany Lions lead the period in shots, 13-5. That was the only major category Penn State led in the period. The Fighting Irish led the first-period face-off battle, 10-3, and led in blocks 7-2. Ryan Bischel also tallied 13 first-period saves.
The biggest stat the Irish led in the first period was goals.
Ryder Rolston put the Irish on the board with the only goal in the first period, with his goal with 10:18 to play in the period, assisted by Nick Leivermann and Chase Blackmun.
The start of the period was long for both sides. After three quick whistles, the fourth whistle did not come for almost eight minutes.
Period two had more scoring, but not by much.
The Nittany Lion face-off stepped up, winning 11 compared to the nine wins the Irish totaled. Penn State continued to dominate shots, taking 16 compared to the eight from the Irish.
Bischel tallied 15 more saves on the 16 shots. Kevin Wall found the back of the net for the Lions, assisted by Connor MacEachern. This goal came with 7:36 to play.
As it looked like this game would head to the third period tied, Tyler Carpenter led a three-man charge against nobody down the ice and picked up the lone assist on the Justin Janicke goal with 48 seconds to play in the period.
TURNING POINT
The third period was a strange one.
The moment started going in the direction of the Irish when Jimmy Dowd Jr. was called for a controversial interference penalty.
Penn State head coach Guy Gadowsky pleaded for the referees to waive the penalty as the hit was clean, and the puck hit the stick of the Notre Dame player. But, the penalty stood, and Dowd Jr. served his time.
Notre Dame took advantage of the man advantage as Jackson Pierson scored a goal as the powerplay expired, with assists from Drew Bavaro and Trevor Janicke.
Jack Adams scores and gives the Irish a 4-1 lead assisted by Janicke (Justin) with 6:02 to play. Landon Slaggert added an empty net goal for the Irish with 3:43 to play. This was the dagger for the Irish, as they had a 5-1 lead with less than four minutes to play.
The Nittany Lions did not quit, though they were not able to complete a late comeback. They tallied two late goals, one by Connor McMenamin assisted by MacEachern, and another from Christian Sarlo, assisted by Ryan Kirwan and Ben Schoen, which made the game 5-3.
TAKEAWAYS
- Penn State shot the puck 50 times tonight, compared to the 22 of the Irish. Shooting 50 times and still not taking the win is not something you see very often.
- Even with the late goals given up, Bischel played a great game in net for the Irish, tallying a whopping 47 saves on the night. He stepped up big time for Notre Dame tonight.
- The Nittany Lions converted 1/7 power play attempts tonight, and 1/10 on the series, against a team who allows a power play goal on 33% of attempts, including this weekend’s numbers. They need to convert against teams with a clear weakness if they want to win.
- This is Penn State’s fifth straight big ten series where they win on Friday and fail to complete the sweep of a Big Ten opponent.
WHAT’S NEXT FOR PENN STATE
The Nittany Lions will head on their winter break, then take on the Rochester Institute of Technology Tigers on December 30th in Rochester, New York.
