Penn State’s struggles in The Mitten State continued into the postseason.
The No.-3 seed Nittany Lions fell to No. 2-seed Michigan, 5-2, in the semifinal round of the Big Ten tournament on Saturday night in Ann Arbor. Failure to convert on eight power-play opportunities and defensive lapses doomed the visitors, who will now await their fate in the NCAA tournament.
How it happened
It was a defensive struggle for much of the first period before Michigan broke through 16 minutes in. A shot from forward Garrett Schifsky was swiped at by defenseman Casey Aman, who inadvertently knocked it past the red line and into the net.
Trailing 1-0, Penn State earned the first power play of the game, and forward Gavin McKenna found the equalizer just seconds after the man advantage expired to tie the game heading into the first intermission.
A hooking call early in the second period presented another scoring opportunity to the Nittany Lions, who fired several shots toward netminder Jack Ivankovic but couldn’t break through.
Shortly after that expiration, Penn State returned to the man advantage courtesy of a tripping call, but it was Wolverine forward Garrett Schifsky who found the net while shorthanded for the 2-1 lead.
The visitors went to their third power play of the day when Michigan’s Malcolm Spence was convicted for head contact, but once again to no avail.
After a return to even strength, the Wolverines went on a sustained attack, testing netminder Josh Fleming, who came up with crucial stops to keep the game close.
Both teams remained even but understaffed when forward Will Horcoff (cross checking) and defenseman Nolan Collins (diving) were assessed matching minors.
During four-on-four play, Michigan turned a faceoff win into an odd-man rush and Cole McKinney fired the puck past Fleming for a 3-1 advantage.
The game devolved into chaos quickly, and another four-on-four session arose after matching calls against Jarod Crespo (holding) and Spence (diving), though no goals resulted.
The Nittany Lions picked up another power play near the end of the period, but a flurry of shots were turned away by Ivankovic.
The carnage spilled into the third period when Shea Van Olm was whistled for roughing after the whistle and started the final frame in the sin bin. Before that penalty expired, Horcoff was booked for interference, creating yet another four-on-four spree.
Amid a rare stretch to even strength play, Lev Katzin scored from the doorstep off a great feed from Jackson Smith, cutting the lead to one goal.
Not long after, Reese Laubach was called for goaltender interference and Nick Chin-DeGraves was hit with roughing, spurring a five-on-three. Michael Hage capitalized, giving Michigan a 4-2 edge with less than eight minutes to play.
Penn State pulled Fleming with under two minutes to play, allowing T.J. Hughes to tack on an empty-net goal.
Team leaders
Goals: Gavin McKenna, Lev Katzin, 1
Assists: Jackson Smith, Luke Misa, Charlie Cerrato, Mac Gadowsky, 1
Saves: Josh Fleming, 34/38
Up next: Penn State will participate in the NCAA tournament, with the bracket set to be revealed next Sunday, March 22
