Heading into Friday night’s meeting against Notre Dame, Penn State had won all four of its overtime contests during the 2020-21 season.
On the one hand, coach Guy Gadowsky might be excused for finding this stat to his liking – since winning is something that has been universally agreed upon to be good.
On the other hand there is a lingering sense that you got away with it. Overtime hockey, especially in its 3-on-3 formatting which the Big Ten and NHL employs, is not without some amount of luck involved. A bad line change or a bad bounce, and suddenly teams are headed the other way with a numbers advantage. That’s not to say skill isn’t part of the equation, you still have to pass and shot, and most importantly, score.
But the more times you head to overtime, the more you’re asking to eventually lose.
So it was not all that surprising that a Penn State team that had won four-straight overtime games finally found itself on the wrong end of an overtime contest, Notre Dame squeaking out a 3-2 victory with less than a minute to go in the overtime period. A breakaway by Spencer Stastney sending the Irish back to South Bend with a series split after Penn State’s overtime victory on Thursday night.
Penn State will – as much as a team can in a loss — take heart in the fact it played pretty well against a team that has historically been a thorn in its side. And while its Big Ten hopes may been on life support, that a split against the Irish is never a result turned down at the outset of a weekend.
Tyler Gratton opened the scoring with 14:28 gone by in the first period on a spinning shot, the goal his first of the year for the Nittany Lions.
Alex Steeves would tie things up just 4:06 into the second period in a game that saw each team manage fewer than 20 shots on goal through two periods as both goaltenders managed solid play between the pipes. Oskar Autio would make 24 saves in the loss, making several key stops throughout.
Sam Sternschein gave Penn State the 2-1 lead early in the third period but a beautiful end-to-end rush by Colin Theisen tied the game again with just under 10 minutes to go as he beat Autio side-to-side across the front of goal.
It was not long after that Notre Dame’s overtime winner – and the expiration of Penn State’s undefeated extra period luck – would unfold.
Penn State is off next week before the final stretch of the year begins with another home series against Ohio State.
The good news, the last time these two teams met, both games ended in regulation.
