Almost a month after opening the season, Penn State finally returned to the friendly confines of the Greenberg Ice Pavilion hoping to pick up its first home victory after five straight road games. The Nittany Lions were able to do that Saturday night beating Buffalo State 4-2.
Buffalo State opened up the scoring first following a goal by Matt Bessing off of a rebound 10:52 in to the game.
The Nittany Lions responded six minutes later after David Glen flipped the puck up and over Buffalo State goalie Kevin Carr’s right pad.
“Giving up the first goal is never something you want to do,” Penn State captain Tommy Olczyk said after the game. “But I was happy with how the boys responded. We were all excited to be playing at home again.”
“We came out and had 20 shots in the first period, and only gave up 9, I like how we came out,” Coach Guy Gadowsky said after the game. ‘We took some penalties and that’s something we’ll have to address, but the mentality we came out with I really liked.”
A physical second period was scoreless until Michael Longo tallied his second of the season at the 10:08 mark of the period. The goal came with only 9 seconds remaining on a major penalty against Buffalo State following a hit on Joathan Milley by Nick Melligan.
“Last time we played, retaliation really hurt us,” Olczyk said. “I just tried to make sure the guys kept cool heads and that we didn’t put ourselves in that situation.”
Olczyk gave Penn State a two-goal lead with 6:30 left in the period. The goal was setup by a pretty feed between the legs from Max Gardiner, Olczyk took the pass and flipped it over Carr’s glove sending the Greenberg Ice Pavilion in to a frenzy.
The third period opened and it only took a few minutes for Buffalo State to draw closer scoring only 3:15 in to the frame. Mike Zannella scored for Buffalo State putting the standing-room-only crowd on edge.
David Glen gave the Nittany Lions a two goal lead as a Buffalo State power play expired with only 3:24 to go in the game. Glen rushed the net and knocked in a rebound from underneath Carr’s pad while on the ice. Glen lost his helmet on the play but came up all smiles.
“When I rushed the net, obviously I’m hoping it’ll go in,” Glen said. “But it was a big goal for the team and the game so I was just excited.”
Nittany Lion goaltender Matthew Skoff picked up his first win in net stopping 23 shots. Skoff looked strong for most of the game, commanding the crease.
“You can see that he made some very calm save,” Gadowksy said. “He made some tough saves and when he’s calm he’s at his best. I think it was great to get this one out of the way for him.”
Penn State improves to 5-2-0 on the year having won four straight and avenges 3-0 loss to Buffalo State earlier in the year. The Nittany Lions will take on Air Force next Friday at home as part of a two game series against the academy.
