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| Pegula Ice Arena | University Park, Pa. | 6,158 | |
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Feb. 21, 2015
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- A Luke Juha (Mississauga, Ontario) overtime goal through a David Glen (Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta) screen set off a raucous celebration as the Penn State men's hockey team knocked off No. 15 Minnesota, 4-3, Saturday night at Pegula Ice Arena.
Scott Conway (Basingstoke, England) tallied a game-high three points on two goals and an assist in the Nittany Lions' first victory over the Gophers. Senior PJ Musico (Orange, Calif.) was solid again in net, making 32 saves against the nation's sixth-best scoring offense.
"The goal, obviously it was a good shot," said head coach Guy Gadowsky. "But I think David Glen just did a tremendous job in front. I know that [Minnesota goaltender Adam] Wilcox didn't see a thing. That was really key to the play."
Penn State (16-10-4, 8-5-1-0 Big Ten) snapped a three-game losing streak in the historic victory, the program's first in six tries against the five-time NCAA national champion Golden Gophers (17-10-3, 8-3-3-0 Big Ten). The overtime in was Penn State's first at home as a Division I program.
The Nittany Lions' celebratory night was cut short with a deflating extra-attacker goal with only 39.6 seconds remaining in regulation scored by Sam Warning. Warning collected a feed from Hudson Fasching on the right post for the easy tally, his eighth of the season, to force overtime.
The goal came during a furious third period that saw Minnesota handle possession for the majority of time, finally connecting on its 14th shot of the frame to overcome a second two-goal deficit.
Nevertheless, Penn State opened overtime the aggressor, putting a pair of shots on net before drawing a power play on a Michael Brodzinski elbowing penalty nearly after two minutes.
Taylor Holstrom (Yorba Linda, Calif.) and Glen fought for the puck behind the net, with Holstrom eventually winning possession and sending it up the boards to the left point and an awaiting Casey Bailey (Anchorage, Alaska). Bailey swiftly swung the puck to the right point as Juha waited for Glen's screen in front of Wilcox and wristed a well-placed shot off the left post for the win.
"I thought it was a drastic difference from last night," Gadowsky said of the team's effort. "I think last night, we looked like a team that was very satisfied to be close to Minnesota and I think tonight, I didn't sense that at all. Minnesota really came at us so hard in the third period and I thought it was a great effort.
"The blocked shots were phenomenal, PJ [Musico] played very well and I think our defense really laid a lot on the line blocking shots but I didn't see any complacency or quit at all. I was very happy with the effort."
In a game where they never trailed, the Nittany Lions struck for a pair of two-goal leads. Curtis Loik (North Vancouver, British Columbia) scored a power play goal a little over seven minutes into the first period on a wraparound attempt that was helped by Conway. The goal was Loik's first since Jan. 10 against Ohio State, breaking a 10-game scoreless drought.
The lead doubled on Conway's highlight reel goal, using a stretch pass from Dylan Richard (Sherwood Park, Alberta), a deft move around Minnesota's Ryan Collins and a sweet backhand to beat Wilcox (30 saves) with 7:37 remaining in the period.
The Gophers upped the pace of play and used its efficient power play to cut the lead in half as Travis Boyd scored the first of his two goals 8:17 into the period.
Eric Scheid (Blaine, Minn.) and Conway forced a Minnesota turnover at the blue line and had a pretty give-and-go on odd-man rush with Conway easily putting away his second of the night with 4:16 remaining for the 3-1 lead. Conway recorded his second two-goal game of the season.
Minnesota wasted little time in its reply, converting another power-play goal from Boyd only 37 seconds after Conway's tally. Boyd took a feed from Mike Reilly's second assist of the game and conference leading 29th for his 15th goal of the year.
That set up the furious third period that saw Penn State block nearly every puck possible. The Nittany Lions finished with an astounding 32 blocked shots led by David Thompson's (Glen Mills, Pa.) six and Peter Sweetland's (Newtown, Pa.) five.
Minnesota earned a 36-33 edge in shots and went 2-for-4 on the power play, finishing the weekend at 3-for-8. The Nittany Lions, on the other hand, was 2-for-3 on the man advantage.
Faceoffs went the way of the Gophers, 39-37, with Holstrom leading Penn State's center charge, 17-11.
With the win, Penn State has now defeated each Big Ten school this season.
GAME NOTES
• Penn State improved to 11-2-3 at Pegula Ice Arena. The Nittany Lions have yet to be swept at home this season.
• Penn State improved to 13-1-1 when leading after two periods, 1-1-4 in overtime and 11-1-1 when scoring four or more goals.
• The last Penn State overtime win came in the 2014 Big Ten Tournament Quarterfinals (2-1 vs. Michigan in double OT). The OT win was PSU's first at home.
• The Nittany Lions' are 3-2-0 against teams ranked in the USA Hockey Top 15.
• Penn State snapped Minnesota's seven-game unbeaten streak.
• Conway's registered his first three-point game of his career. His career-high was a four-point outing vs. Holy Cross on Oct. 26, 2014
• Scheid produced two assists for the first time since Feb. 7 against Wisconsin.
• Holstrom and Bailey provided assists for the second straight night. Bailey is on a three-game point streak, his fifth such streak this season
• Musico has stopped at least 32 shots in every appearance against Minnesota. Musico has a .935 save percentage in three appearances against the Golden Gophers with 101 saves in 179 minutes.
NEXT TIME OUT
Penn State returns to the road for its penultimate conference road series when it takes on Ohio State in Columbus Friday and Saturday. The Nittany Lion-Buckeye Friday opener is set for 6:30 p.m. on Big Ten Network, while Saturday's game is slated for a 7 p.m. puck drop on American Sports Network, to be shown on BTN2GO and local outlets.