Penn State men’s hockey team gave up three unanswered goals in a 3-1 loss to Cornell in the Frozen Apple at Madison Square Garden in front of 15,027 fans.
David Goodwin scored a first-period goal to pace the offense.
Penn State (7-4-2) dropped back-to-back games for the first time this season as Cornell (4-4-1) won its third straight game, and fourth in its past five outings.
“I thought we played well in the third period,” said Penn State coach Guy Gadowsky. “We had lots of good chances to go ahead, but credit their goaltender (Mitch Gillam), he played really well. It was a great atmosphere and a great arena to play in.”
The first period belonged to the Nittany Lions who attempted 10 of the game’s first 12 shots on goal. One of those 10 shots was Goodwin’s fifth goal of the year almost midway through the frame.
Taylor Holstrom streaked through the neutral zone, down the right wing toward the right post, tossing the puck in front of the net that tipped off Casey Bailey’s stick as Goodwin knocked it home into the top left corner of the net for a 1-0 lead.
The helper was Holstrom’s 14th of the year, while Bailey upped his point streak to five games. Goodwin registered his first goal since Nov. 14 at UMass Lowell.
In the second period, Cornell fought back to even the score with six minutes left in the frame on a John Knisley goal. The puck was swung up to the left point and blasted by Holden Anderson from John McCarron as Knisley got his stick to it in front of the net. Shots were even at 10 apiece for the two teams.
The third period momentum swung Penn State’s way with quality offensive chances generated by David Thompson who dinged one off the right post, Max Gardiner, Scott Conway and Luke Juha all being stopped by Mitch Gillam (37 saves).
Penn State would pull Skoff for the extra attacker with 1:40 left, but Knisley bagged his second of the game when Lowry won a battle along the boards and found Knisley all alone in front of the empty net. McCarron picked up his third assist of the night on the play.
The final shot total favored Penn State, 38-25, while the Big Red owned a 38-23 edge in faceoffs. Penn State blocked 17 Cornell shot attempts led by Peter Sweetland stopping six.
NEXT TIME OUT
Penn State continues its two-month stay on the road with a two-game series at Wisconsin beginning Friday at 9 p.m. ET. That game will air live on ESPNews.
