Penn State Flips the Script, but Still Falls Short Versus Minnesota
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.- One night after suffering its worst loss of the season, No. 7 Penn State flipped the script to clinch one point in the Big Ten standings in the way of a 3-2 overtime loss against No. 2 Minnesota.
Just 29 seconds in, Ture Linden took a pass from Xander Lammpa and lit the lamp to give the Nittany Lions a 1-0 lead.
That lead was one that head coach Guy Gadowsky said did not get the team back on track, but was rather a result of the team finding the right mindset following Friday night’s loss.
“I think everybody was on track tonight and that allowed us to score,” Gadowsky said. “If it wasn’t Ture, it would have been someone else. I liked our mentality.”
The fresh mentality was one that kept the blue and white leading after one period of action. Not only did the Nittany Lions find themselves leading on the scoreboard, but also in the shot category, which is the way they have found success this season.
Minnesota was held to six shots in the first twenty minutes, but the Golden Gophers came out of the intermission on a mission. Within the first two minutes of the second period, the maroon and gold shot put two shots onto Liam Souliere with the second one going in.
Rhett Pitlick snuck behind the entire Penn State team to go one-on-one with Souliere. Pitlick’s ninth goal of the season went right under Souliere and into the back of the net to tie the score with 18:02 remaining in the middle period.
That goal was just one-of-three that Souliere surrendered to the Big Ten regular season champions in a bounceback performance. Souliere was pulled on Friday at nearly the same time of the game as Pitlick’s goal on Saturday after allowing four goals on 12 shots.
The junior netminder earned the praise of his captain Paul DeNaples for his 29-save effort to give the Nittany Lions a chance to win.
“I can’t say we lost a game because of him once this season. Maybe he’s had better nights, but I can’t blame one game on him,” DeNaples said. “It's good to see that he had almost all his confidence back…he gave us a chance to win tonight.”
Souliere, his counterpart Justen Close and the iron combined to keep the score knotted at one apiece for the next 36 minutes of game action. Close would finish the game making 26 saves on 28 shots as Penn State was next to strike.
With 2:03 remaining in the game, Danny Dzhaniyev put the Nittany Lions ahead 2-1. As the momentum and the crowd backed the Nittany Lions, it seemed as if they were two minutes away from defeating the No. 2 team in the country.
But that was not the case as Dzhaniyev’s sixth goal of his sophomore campaign would stand as the go-ahead for only a minute-and-a-half.
“We came within a minute of beating absolutely what I think is the best team in the nation and they proved it,” Gadowsky said. “They proved that tonight, but night and day difference in terms of our performance from yesterday to today.”
It was not even a minute, but rather 41.2 seconds that separated the Nittany Lions from a win as three NHL prospects in Matthew Knies, Jimmy Snuggerud and Jackson LaCombe combined to tie the game at two.
“We actually were able to execute what we wanted to do, but give them credit they were able to get speed and enter our zone with possession, which is something you never want,” Gadowsky said. “Give them credit they entered the zone with speed and that's where our mistake was.”
Knies’ goal sent the game to overtime, where with just over two minutes gone, Knies scored again this time off of an assist from Logan Cooley, who had six points in the series, to secure the victory for his team.
Penn State returns to home ice next weekend for their final regular season series where it will look to build off the confidence displayed in this game.
“I don’t think this past month of our hockey has been very indicative of the team we were and the team we’re going to be come playoffs,” DeNaples said. “I’m not worried about anyone we have to play. I know we're going to turn it around and I know we're going to have a good run.”
Justin Ciavolella is a second-year student majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email jtc5751@psu.edu.
