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| Pegula Ice Arena | University Park, Pa. | 6,148 | |
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Feb. 20, 2015
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State men's hockey team was unable to stave off a third straight loss, falling for just the second time at home this season, in a 2-1 decision that went No. 15 Minnesota's way at Pegula Ice Arena in front of 6,148 fans.
Nittany Lion sophomore forward David Goodwin (Des Peres, Mo.) scored a first-period goal to spark the Penn State (15-10-4, 7-5-1-0 Big Ten) offense. A lackluster second period undid all of PSU's good work, surrendering power play opportunities and eventually two goals as Minnesota (17-9-3, 8-2-3-0 Big Ten) ran its unbeaten streak to seven games (6-0-1).
Senior goaltender PJ Musico (Orange, Calif.) made 33 saves in the loss, falling to 4-3-1 on the season.
"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."
Up 1-0, Penn State gave up Christian Isackson's third goal of the season only 2:19 into the second period. Isackson redirected Jake Bischoff's shot from the right dashers to even the score.
The Nittany Lions would put the nation's top power play unit on the man advantage for a second time and Justin Kloos capitalized on the opportunity. Kloos weaved through traffic, crossed the blue line and ripped a wrister from the slot five minutes into the period in what would turn out to be the game-winning goal.
Penn State had a renewed sense of urgency in the third period, out-shooting the Golden Gophers 15-9. Two of the 15 shots were memorable opportunities: Casey Bailey (Anchorage, Alaska) had a one-timer on a power play that was snared by Adam Wilcox (35 saves), while Scott Conway (Basingstoke, England) was stoned with a cartwheeling Wilcox save.
Despite pulling Musico for the extra attacker for the final two minutes, Penn State couldn't find the equalizer and dropped just its second home game of the season (10-2-3). The Nittany Lions were the last team in NCAA Division I men's hockey to lose twice at home.
Penn State rode the momentum of a boisterous sellout crowd, the season's 14th, resulting in a Goodwin goal from the left circle with 7:13 remaining in the first period. Goodwin had a give-and-go with Taylor Holstrom (Yorba Linda, Calif.) as the senior center picked up his team-leading 22nd assist. Freshman defenseman Erik Autio (Espoo, Finland) carded his eighth helper of the year.
PSU out-shot Minnesota 36-35 for the game, but the Gophers had a decisive 12-6 edge during the second period. Minnesota went 1-for-4 on the power play, below its 29 percent average, while Penn State was scoreless on its two chances.
GAME NOTES
• The Nittany Lions fell to 3-2-0 in games that Musico starts.
• Penn State was held to two goals or less for the third straight game, the first such stretch of the 2014-15 season.
• Three of Penn State's five losses against Minnesota have come by a single goal. The last loss was also a 2-1 decision in which Musico started (March 1, 2014 at Mariucci Arena)
• Goodwin moved into a team tie of second in goals scored with forward Eric Scheid (Blaine, Minn.)
• Penn State was held to its fewest goals at Pegula Ice Arena this season.
NEXT TIME OUT
Penn State and Minnesota cap the series with a 5 p.m. puck drop on Saturday with a national broadcast on ESPNU. Penn State is 0-5-0 all-time against the Gophers.