Penn State hockey grabs key road split with No. 7 Minnesota

Penn State hockey finally set a foundation for itself in Big Ten play, grabbing its first conference win of the season in a road split with No. 7 Minnesota.

The Nittany Lions (7-6, 1-5 Big Ten) came out on top Friday night with a 5-3 victory before succumbing to a 4-2 setback on Saturday.

“Any time you can win in [Minnesota], you’ve got to be very happy,” Penn State coach Guy Gadowsky said.

Penn State takes Friday night’s opener

The first goal is always important in hockey, but for the Nittany Lions this season, it has been paramount.

They’ve scored the first goal in all seven of their victories this year so far. Ryan Kirwan claimed the honors on Friday night, finishing off a three-on-two rush by cashing in on Simon Mack’s centering feed.

“We’re a very inexperienced team,” Gadowsky said. “Because of that, we have some fragility and when you get down it’s a lot harder. So that was very important for us. It was a big goal for us.”

But, despite the early goal, the Nittany Lions did indeed fall behind. The Gophers scored the next two goals, going ahead on Jaxon Nelson’s tally three minutes into the second period.

That was the first of two power-play goals for Nelson in this game. The Nittany Lions took five penalties, something Gadowsky lamented after the game. They’ve hurt themselves by spending too much time in the box all season.

The two Nelson goals sandwiched tallies from Penn State’s Connor MacEachern and Ben Copeland, sending the game to the third period knotted at 3-3.

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The Nittany Lions wasted no time taking command. Christian Sarlo scored on the power play just over two minutes into the period, and Chase McLane turned one home less than a minute later to complete the scoring.

Notably, goaltender Oskar Autio delivered a solid performance in net, stopping 32 of the 35 shots the Gophers sent his way.

“He had a great game,” Gadowsky said. “You’re not going to win against Minnesota anywhere — let alone here — without great goaltending and we definitely got that tonight.”

Gophers bounce back on Saturday

The Nittany Lions held a second-period lead in Saturday’s series finale, but could not turn an impressive split into a statement-making road sweep of the No. 7 team in the nation.

Minnesota used a three-goal third period to emerge with a 4-2 win.

Again, the Minnesota power play gave Penn State problems. The Nittany Lions took three third-period penalties, including two in quick succession to give the Golden Gophers an extended five-on-three advantage.

“I thought Oskar battled as hard as he could,” Gadowsky said. “I thought he did a great job, But, I mean, if you give Minnesota five-on-threes it’s hard not to [concede].”

With the game tied at one entering the third period, Minnesota’s Matthew Knies put the Golden Gophers in front for the first time on the night with a power-play goal.

Penn State’s Kevin Wall answered with his eighth goal of the season with under eight minutes remaining in the game, but the hosts cashed in on the man advantage yet again about two minutes later via Mason Nevers.

Sammy Walker capped the game off for the Golden Gophers with an empty-net goal in the final two minutes.

“I thought in may ways we played better tonight than we did last night,” Gadowsky said. “It’s just disappointing.”

The Nittany Lions will stay in Minnesota for a midweek nonconference series against Division One newcomers St. Thomas, beginning on Tuesday.