Penn State Hockey Sweeps Michigan State With 3-1 Victory
Penn State (7-7) was able to complete the weekend sweep over Michigan State (5-7-2) with a 3-1 win Saturday afternoon at Pegula Ice Arena.
“It was a total team effort,” head coach Guy Gadowsky said.
The Nittany Lions came quickly out of the gate after a come-from-behind 3-2 overtime win the night before. Like the first game, Penn State scored first.
Evan Bell got Penn State on the board at 4:45, as he fired an innocent looking shot on Michigan State netminder Drew DeRidder. The puck somehow managed to sneak through for his second of the season.
Some back and forth play and limited action on the ice ensued for a good chunk of the first period, but the Spartans had an answer.
Bemidji State graduate transfer Charlie Combs was in the right spot at the right time as a shot bounced off of Oskar Autio’s pad and he backhanded one upstairs to equal the score at 17:34.
The first period ended in a deadlock at one but the second period, like the first, saw Penn State attack right from the get-go.
Three opportunities down low resulted in three incredible saves by DeRidder and Kyle Haskins almost made it 2-1 Spartans about three minutes in, but it remained tied as he hit the post.
Then, after a Christian Krygier holding penalty, Aarne Talvitie gave Penn State a 2-1 lead on a goal with just :01 left on the power-play at 5:57 of the second period.
It was Talvitie’s fifth of the season from Wall and Berger.
That wasn’t the only goal of the period.
Kevin Wall gave the Lions a two-goal cushion at 13:02 in a net-mouth scramble from Talvitie and Jimmy Dowd Jr for his sixth of the season.
“We love those greasy goals,” sophomore forward Kevin Wall said.
Then, it had appeared as if MSU was back in the game after a Jagger Joshua goal late in the second.
The goal was waved off and Penn State headed into the final period with a two-goal lead.
Penn State then played quite a bit of puck possession in the final 20-minutes of play allowing the Michigan state offense very little time to actually get anything going.
The Nittany Lions fended off the last-ditch efforts from the Spartans and are now 7-2 in their last nine games after the 0-5 start to the season.
Oskar Autio saved 21 of 22 shots faced for a .954 save percentage and has picked up his third straight win.
“Oskar’s been lights out for us. He’s been incredible,” Kevin Wall said.
Drew DeRidder added another solid performance to a strong season between the pipes thus far, saving 32 shots on 35 shots faced for a .914 save percentage on the afternoon.
The Nittany Lions will welcome the Wisconsin Badgers to Pegula Ice Arena next Thursday, Jan. 21 and Friday Jan. 22 with puck drop times to be announced at a later date.
Christopher Hess is a senior majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email christopherhess22@gmail.com.
