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Penn State blanked at Minnesota to open series

by:William James•02/09/24
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Penn State dropped a 3-0 decision at Minnesota on Friday night. (File photo: Daniel Althouse/BWI)

The Penn State men’s hockey program was shut out in the series opener against the No. 8-ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers on Friday night, falling 3-0.

The Nittany Lions move to 12-12-3 on the season, and 4-9-3 in Big Ten play.

What happened

The Gophers got everything they needed from netminder Justen Close, who turned in a 36-save performance Friday night.

Beyond the tallie of saves, Close came up huge for Minnesota during a sequence of power plays for Penn State. They included a total of 3:46 of 5-on-3, and another 2:14 of the man advantage.

The Nittany Lions dominated puck possession during that sequence but were no match for Close.

Offensively, Minnesota got all they needed from Rhett Pitlick in the first 3:49 of the game. Pitlick netted two goals, both of which were assisted by Oliver Moore.

After settling down for the remainder of the first and second periods, Connor Kurth extended the Gopher lead to 3 just over a minute into the third period.

The Nittany Lions did not play as badly as the score suggests. The team fired off 36 shots, including a 19-shot second period powered by the power play. Penn State also lost the faceoff battle by two, 24-22.

After the sluggish start from the Nittany Lions, the one that Pitlick took advantage of, they settled in and kept themselves in the game. Despite not scoring, the Nittany Lions generated many quality chances, they were just outplayed by Close.

The game ultimately came down to special teams. And though the Nittany Lion penalty kill did not allow a goal, the team went 0-5 on the power play. The Nittany Lions could have sparked a comeback by netting just one power play score.

What’s next for Penn State

The Nittany Lions will take on the Golden Gophers on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. in the series finale from the 3M Arena at Mariucci.

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