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Nov. 13, 2015
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The Penn State men's hockey team used clinical finishing on the special teams units and clutch goaltending by Eamon McAdam (Perkasie, Pa.) in an 8-2 rout of Sacred Heart Friday night at Pegula Ice Arena in front of 6,089 fans. A school-record seven different goal scorers aided the Nittany Lion offense.
The Nittany Lions tallied a school-record give power play goals and a short-handed tally by Kenny Brooks (Las Vegas, Nev.). David Goodwin (Des Peres, Mo.) had a game-high two goals and Zach Saar (Richland, Mich.) tallied his first goal since March 2014 in his season debut. McAdam made 36 saves, setting a new school record for saves in a period with 22 during the second frame.
"Coming in to today (Sacred Heart was) 33-for-36 on the penalty kill, so going into this it wasn't something we thought was going to play such a huge role," Head coach Guy Gadowsky said of his team's five power-play goals. "It was definitely nice to see and it was also nice to see Zach Saar add a new element to our power play unit big time. I thought Saar played a very big role and really great to see him get a goal after all of the injuries he has had. Obviously special teams were huge tonight."
Penn State (5-2-2, 0-0-0-0 Big Ten) went 5-for-7 on the power play to punish Sacred Heart (5-4-1, 4-2-0 AHA) for its lack of discipline. Conversely, Penn State gave up just one power play opportunity to the Pioneers.
In all, six Nittany Lions recorded multi-point games: Luke Juha (Mississauga, Ontario; 2a), Kevin Kerr (Bensalem, Pa.; 2a), Goodwin (2g); David Glen (Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta; 3a), Andrew Sturtz (Buffalo, N.Y.; 1g, 2a) and Alec Marsh (Bridgewater, N.J.; 1g, 1a).
Penn State leapt out to a 3-0 lead in the first period with goals by Goodwin, Marsh and Dylan Richard (Sherwood Park, Alberta). Goodwin scored at 3:29 into the game on a 2-on-1 sequence with Sturtz and Marsh doubled the lead with 3:40 left putting away a Kerr offering during a power play and a delayed penalty.
Richard scored on that power play, putting home an Eric Scheid (Blaine, Minn.) rebound, which was set up by Curtis Loik (North Vancouver, British Columbia). Penn State started 2-for-2 on the man-advantage.
Sacred Heart made it a game by responding to those power play tallies with a pair of even strength goals in the final 62 seconds of the period. Kory Kennedy tallied the first and Justin Danforth tallied his team-leading fifth with 35 second left. PSU held a 13-8 shot margin.
In the second, the Pioneers carried much of the play, forcing McAdam to make several acrobatic stops.
"Eamon McAdam had to be just phenomenal," Gadowsky said. "And in fact, you often don't see an 8-2 win like that... That's got to be the hardest six goal victory he's ever played in and he was very important tonight."
Nevertheless, Sturtz made a highlight-reel play by picking a puck out of the air with his right hand, turning and scoring his fourth of the year with 13:22 left in the period for a 4-2 lead.
Less than two minutes later, Scheid nearly made it 5-2 as SHU goalie Brett Magnus (24 saves) stopped him on a short-handed breakaway, and the ensuing rebounding effort by Richard. The Nittany Lions would waste little time in earning another short-handed chance.
After winning a faceoff at the SHU blue line, Vince Pedrie (Rochester, Minn.) went cross-ice with the puck to Erik Autio (Espoo, Finland) at PSU's blue line. There, Autio slung a stretch pass in-stride to Brooks who was able to sneak it past Magnus for a 5-2 lead with 11:39 left.
The Nittany Lions added a third goal in the period when Goodwin scored from the left faceoff circle after winning the faceoff and sending back to Juha on the power play for PSU's third power-play goal and a 6-2 lead. SHU out-shot the Nittany Lions 22-17 in the stanza.
Juha would collect his second assist of the evening midway through the second period during a 5-on-3 opportunity. He found Saar open in the slot as he sent one home past backup goalie Nathan Perry (19 saves) to give Penn State a 7-2 cushion.
Only 65 seconds later, Penn State scored again on the power play as Chase Berger (St. Louis, Mo.) collected a pass in the low slot and pushed it by Perry. It was Berger's team-leading sixth of the season and it was provided by a nice pass from Marsh in the high slot and deflected along the way by Sturtz, who earned a three-point evening.
The final shot margin in the game was in favor of Penn State, 51-38. Penn State controlled the dots as well, 39-31, with Berger and Goodwin earning 10-7 records.
Penn State had 10 blocks on the night, led by Connor Varley's (Lansdale, Pa.) three.
GAME NOTES
• Penn State scored a school-record five power play goals on seven power-play chances tonight (71 percent). Penn State had scored just three goals in its previous 31 power-play opportunities.
• Sacred Heart had given up a total of three power-play goals in 36 chances this season before Friday night.
• Penn State scored eight goals, matching the program record, for the second time this season (Oct. 23, 2015 vs. AIC).
• David Goodwin posted his first two-goal game since Feb. 21, 2014 at Michigan (W, 5-4 OT). Goodwin has tallied a point in eight of nine games this season.
• David Glen had his first three-assist game of his career.
• Eamon McAdam made 22 saves in the second period, a new program record (previous was 20).
• Six Nittany Lions recorded multi-point games: Luke Juha (2a); Kevin Kerr (2a); Goodwin (2g); Glen (3a); Andrew Sturtz (1g, 2a); Alec Marsh (1g, 1a)
• Kenny Brooks tallied his first career short-handed goal, Penn State's second of the season, in the second period to give PSU a 5-2 lead.
• Penn State improved to 3-0-0 all-time against Sacred Heart.
• Penn State played in front of its 40th sellout in 43 regular-season games at Pegula Ice Arena. The Nittany Lions have played in front of 20 straight home sellouts. Penn State is 17-4-4 at Pegula Ice Arena the past two seasons.
NEXT TIME OUT
Penn State continues the series against Sacred Heart on Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. inside Pegula Ice Arena. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster.