As Penn State coach Guy Gadowsky is fond of saying, every hockey game deals with three things: bouncing pucks, refs and goaltending.
On Saturday night he added a fourth: The hockey gods.
‘You know, after what we did yesterday I don’t know if we deserve…you know, at the end [of the day] I’m not so sure we deserved to get more than this point tonight because of how we how we started the weekend.’
Theology aside Penn State came into Saturday much more the team it can be, controlling play in the offensive zone and playing fairly stout defense in front of goalie Oskar Autio. It was Liam Folkes who opened the night with Penn State’s first goal of the series just 6:55 into regulation, pounding home a rebound during a Nittany Lion power play.
Nate Sucese extended his program-leading point total with Penn State’s second goal just five minutes into the second period and the Nittany Lions appeared to be well in control.
But the thing about hockey is that pucks bounce funny, and sometimes seemingly pointless plays can end in a goal.
Take for example Michigan’s first goal, just a minute and a half following Sucese’s. A puck chipped off the boards to the center of Penn State’s zone, slapped at by Nola Moyle and knuckled past Autio. It was an effort play, but nothing out of the ordinary. It was a goal all the same, and Penn State’s lead was cut to one.
Four minutes later another Michigan goal came by way of bounce, redirecting onto the ice and up under Autio’s arm. It wasn’t hit hard, it wasn’t screened, it just bounced funny.
Sometimes that’s all it takes, and Penn State found itself tied.
‘I think it’s really important to stay within one shot,’ Michigan coach Mel Pearson said. ‘So we talked about one shot or being one shot away from being right back in the game.’
What about two shots.
Evan Barratt would respond to give Penn State a 3-2 lead heading into the final period, but two quick goals by Michigan in the middle of the third period turned Penn State’s once two-goal lead into a one-goal deficit. The Wolverines didn’t back down with the lead and Penn State struggled to break the pressure, wasting precious time in its own zone.
With 2:11 to play Gadowsky pulled Autio in favor of the extra attacker and Barratt made good on the gamble, scoring to tie the game at four with just over a minute remaining in regulation. The Nittany Lions buzzing, but unable to find the regulation winner.
In overtime it was a game of bounces again, and a game of goaltending. Going one way Penn State hit the post, but that bad bit of luck sprung even more, a breakaway chance for Michigan to win the game, but Autio stood tall, one of a handful of breakaway saves and one of his 42 total stops.
With no winner in the 5-on-5 overtime the game went on the books as a draw, an extra point in the Big Ten standings up for grabs, and Michigan made the most of that chance, Garrett Van Wyhe sniping a shot past Autio to end the evening’s affair.
[Three points are awarded to the winner in regulation or during the 5-on-5 overtime period. Each team receives a point for making it to the 3-on-3 or (if needed) shootout. A second point is given to the winner in either of the additional 3-on-3 or shootout periods and the game goes on the books as a tie]
For the Nittany Lions the weekend will serve as something as a wakeup call. Michigan has now take 11 of its possible 12 points against Notre Dame and Penn State in back to back weeks on the road. Losing to the Wolverines will haunt Penn State far less by virtue of it happening than by the way that it happened, one night of lost identity, another of bad bounces.
Penn State will head to East Lansing to face Michigan State next weekend, tied with the Spartans for second play in the conference, one point behind Ohio State, a series that should need no real pep talk for the Nittany Lions to get up for.
Then again, one would have thought that about this weekend as well.
