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Nov. 21, 2015
ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- The Penn State men's hockey team used a Luke Juha (Mississauga, Ontario) power-play goal in the third period to rally for a 1-1 tie with Alaska Anchorage on Saturday night at Sullivan Arena in front of 1,884 fans. The Nittany Lions, who out-shot UAA 37-21, finished their Alaskan voyage undefeated and ran their unbeaten mark to four straight on the road.
Down a goal from the 2:23 mark in the first period, Penn State (7-3-3, 0-0-0-0 Big Ten) battled a determined Alaska Anchorage (6-4-2, 3-2-1 WCHA) side that was backstopped by a sharp goalie in Olivier Mantha (36 saves).
It took until 6 minutes into the third period and on the second part of an interrupted five-minute major power play for the Nittany Lions to find the back of the net as Juha ripped his second of the year and seventh power play goal of his career from long distance.
With less than a minute remaining on a Tyler Adurdia major penalty, David Glen (Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta) played a puck from behind the net up the right boards to David Goodwin (Des Peres, Mo.) found . Goodwin quickly swung the puck to the high slot where Juha made no mistake.
The Nittany Lions dominated the third period, out-shooting the Seawolves 19-6, forcing Mantha into several sprawling and athletic glove saves. In overtime, it was Matthew Skoff (McKees Rocks, Pa.) who made a pair of timely stops to preserve PSU's third tie this season. Skoff had 20 saves, all of which came after the opening goal.
UAA scored in transition after only 2:23 when Mason Mitchell took a Blake Leask outlet pass down the right wing and beat Skoff stickside high for the early lead. The play was set up in Anchorage's defensive zone off a faceoff as Sevalrud found Leask in quick fashion.
The Nittany Lions struggled to find their scoring chances as the Seawolves did a quality job of clogging up passing and shooting lanes. PSU's best chance came with 9:15 remaining in the period as Goodwin found Glen in front and Glen's shot hit the right post. The chance came during an extended stretch of puck possession that allowed Penn State to make a line change against a tired UAA skating corps.
In a free-flowing second period that saw few stoppages and even fewer scoring chances, the Nittany Lions mustered seven shots to UAA's three. In fact, Penn State only allowed one UAA shot through the first 19-plus minutes of the period. The three UAA shots on net were the fewest allowed by Penn State in two seasons.
The Seawolves had two power play chances in the second, but the Nittany Lions killed off both chances, increasing their streak to 11 straight successful penalty kills dating back to Nov. 6 at Niagara. PSU ultimately killed off all four UAA attempts and has 12 straight kills.
In the third it was Curtis Loik (North Vancouver, British Columbia) who drew the Azurdia major interference penalty who hit him high with his head down with 18:13 left in the period. Soon thereafter, Vince Pedrie (Rochester, Minn.) rung the crossbar for the second time this weekend, Penn State's fifth shot off a post in the series. Ultimately, the penalty was halted by a PSU minor and after 91 seconds of 4-on-4, PSU continued on the major that resulted in Juha's goal.
With eight minutes remaining, Mantha made an error behind his net as Chase Berger (St. Louis, Mo.) found Pedrie in front, but Mantha recovered in time to make a great glove save. With 1:30 left, Mantha again robbed a Nittany Lion of the game-winner, stopping Kenny Brooks (Las Vegas, Nev.) on a shot from the left wing.
In overtime, UAA had a 4-3 edge in shots that had Skoff stopping the Seawolves from nabbing an overtime victory.
GAME NOTES
Penn State is currently on a five-game unbeaten streak, going 3-0-2 since Nov. 6 at Niagara. Penn State is on a program-best four-game unbeaten streak on the road, which is also 2-0-2 this season.
Penn State is 1-0-2 all-time against Alaska Anchorage.
Matthew Skoff is 2-0-3 in his last five starts after dropping his opening game of the season.
Penn State is 0-1-3 when trailing after two periods.
The Nittany Lions are 1-0-5 in their last six overtime games (dating back to Jan. 16, 2015) and 2-1-7 in their last 10 dating back to March 20, 2014.
Luke Juha is the ninth different Nittany Lion to record a power-play goal this season. Juha's last power- play goal came against Minnesota in a 4-3 win on Feb. 21, 2015.
The Nittany Lions are 15-for-52 (28.8 percent) this season and have connected on 2-of-3 five-minute major power plays.
NEXT TIME OUT
Penn State continues its three-game stretch away from Pegula Ice Arena to face Vermont in the fourth annual Philadelphia College Hockey Faceoff on Sunday, Nov. 29 at Wells Fargo Center. Puck drop is set for 1 p.m. and tickets are available on ComcastTIX.com.