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Penn State hockey falls to Michigan State, settles for series split

IMG_1698 5 (1)by:David Eckert•12/04/21•

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Guy Gadowsky
Penn State hockey coach Guy Gadowsky (Snyder/BWI)

An avalanche of third-period pressure wasn’t enough for Penn State to overcome a two-goal deficit, as the Nittany Lions fell to Michigan State, 4-3, at Pegula Ice Arena on Saturday evening.

Penn State settled for a split of the two-game series despite holding a 53-29 advantage in the shot column.

The defining moment

The Nittany Lions controlled the run of play for much of the game, but slipped in the early third period. Michigan State scored two goals in just over two minutes to take a 4-2 advantage.

First, Mitchell Lewandowski finished off a gorgeous passing play on the power play for the Spartans.

A few minutes later, Penn State’s transition defense broke down, and Kristof Papp skated in unencumbered and fired the puck past Oskar Autio to give the Spartans a two-goal cushion.

Penn State responded with Carson Dyck’s goal shortly thereafter but never found the equalizing effort it needed.

One big thing

Sometimes you lose because you don’t play well. Other times you lose because the puck wouldn’t go in the net.

Such was the case for Penn State Saturday evening.

“I told Guy at the end of the game that they played a real good game and put a lot of pressure on us, and we put a lot of pressure on ourselves,” Spartans coach Danton Cole said.

Saturday marked the first time this season that the Nittany Lions surpassed the 50-shot threshold, a benchmark that the best Penn State teams of past seasons tended to hit regularly.

Gadowsky felt as though his team did that without sacrificing defensive solidity, too.

“It’s nice to see that when we do play past, we can get the identity that we’re used to,” Gadowsky said. “We haven’t seen it yet. This is really the first time. So, from a coaching standpoint, we feel pretty good about that. We knew it was in there, but we hadn’t seen it.

“It’s a matter of now doing it consistently, but not risking anything on the back end.”

Hockey is one of a few sports that allows for negative outcomes to positive performances.

It’s an awkward dynamic to manage, but Penn State found a gear it hadn’t shown all season. The Lions suffered a loss that could prove costly, but hope they’ve given themselves a solid platform moving forward.

“The big picture is that if the things that happened tonight continue we will have success,” Gadowsky said.

Goal-scorers

MSU: 3:31 first period — Jeremey Davidson (8) from Mitchell Lewandowski (10) and Jesse Tucker (7)

PSU: 7:00 first period — Chase McLane (3) from Adam Pilewicz (2) and Jimmy Dowd Jr. (10)

MSU: 16:06 first period — Dennis Cesana (4) from Mitchell Lewandowski (11) and Christian Krygier (5)

PSU: 10:03 second period — Connor MacEachern (10) from Danny Dzhaniyev (6) and Christian Berger (6)

MSU: 4:10 third period (PPG) — Mitchell Lewandowski (6) from Nash Nienhuis (6) and Griffin Loughran (6)

MSU: 6:16 third period — Kristof Papp (1) from AJ Hodges (3) and Josh Nodler (8)

PSU: 8:46 third period — Carson Dyck (1) from Tyler Paquette (2) and Jimmy Dowd (11)

Up next for Penn State

The Nittany Lions travel to Wisconsin next weekend for a two-game series with the Badgers beginning Friday at 8 p.m.

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