No. 16 Penn State (6-2-0) fell to Ohio State (5-2-0) after collapsing toward the end of the second period of the Big Ten opener on Friday night in Columbus.
Ohio State’s Kamil Sadlocha scored two goals in the final three minutes of the second period, and goaltender Jakub Dobeš made 33 saves to stop the Nittany Lions.
How It Happened
Guy Gadowsky went with Liam Souliere in goal tonight, as the sophomore been having an outstanding start to his season with a GAA of 2.00 and a save percentage of .945. He also gave Ohio native Ben Schoen the start at right wing.
The Nittany Lions got off to somewhat slow start. The first few minutes were uneventful until Ohio State’s Matthew Cassidy took a minor penalty for tripping at 3:12 of the first period, sending Penn State to its first power play of the game. The visitors, though, didn’t record a shot on goal on the man advantage.
Penn State’s shot drought continued until 8:10 of the first period when Simon Mack finally fired one on goal for the Nittany Lions. Ohio State led 4-1 in shots on goal at that point in the period. Three minutes later, on Penn State’s third shot of the game, Kevin Wall scored his seventh goal of the season off a great feed from Ben Copeland to give Penn State the lead at 11:05 of the first period.
Wall came close to scoring his second goal of the game later in the period, but his shot hit the post, followed by a shot from Ohio State’s Quinn Preston hitting the iron behind Souliere. The first period ended with the Nittany Lions leading 1-0.
Penn State started the second period with all the momentum. The team couldn’t capitalize on a few prime scoring chances, as the Nittany Lions led Ohio State 5-0 in second period shots on goal through the first 10 minutes. Connor McMenamin also rang a shot off the iron at 12:09 of the second period.
As Penn State kept the pressure on, Ohio State’s Kamil Sadlocha tipped the puck past Souliere to tie the game 1-1 at 16:17 of the second period. Following the goal, the ice tilted toward the Buckeyes as Sadlocha scored his second goal of the game with just 12 seconds remaining in the second period, giving Ohio State a 2-1 lead going into the second intermission.
The third period started with Souliere having to make a save on a borderline breakaway from the Buckeyes. The period didn’t get much better for the Nittany Lions, as Jake Wise fired a goal from the point that beat Souliere to give the Buckeyes a 3-1 lead at 3:12 of the third period. Ohio State kept piling it on with another goal, this one from Jaedon Leslie at 5:14 of the period to put the Buckeyes up 4-1 over the Nittany Lions.
Schoen took a penalty for high sticking at 5:40 of the period, giving Ohio State its first power play of the game. It didn’t take long for the Buckeyes to capitalize, as Gustag Westlund scored on the man advantage just nine seconds later to put Ohio State up 5-1.
Ohio State then took a penalty for tripping at 8:07 of the period, Connor MacEachern capitalized by firing a snipe that found the back of the net and cut Penn State’s deficit to 5-2 at 8:54 of the third period. The Nittany Lions couldn’t keep the momentum, though, as Schoen took his second penalty of the game, this one for holding, at 11:14 of the period. Penn State ended up killing the penalty.
Time wasn’t on Penn State’s side and after the final uneventful minutes, the horn sounded to give Ohio State a 5-2 win.
Takeaways
- Despite riding a solid start to his season, Liam Souliere had an underwhelming performance against the Buckeyes. Even though he kept Ohio State off the board in the first 35 minutes of the game, the first two goals he allowed were pucks that should have been saved.
- After taking five penalties in the team’s upset over No. 6 North Dakota, Penn State was much more disciplined as a whole. Guy Gadowsky stressed earlier this week that the Nittany Lions need to stop taking stick penalties, and that message seemed to have been communicated effectively to the team. Penn State only took two penalties, both coming from Ben Schoen.
- Penn State didn’t play with the “identity” that Gadowsky has urged the team to play with all season. After controlling play in the second period and carrying a 1-0 lead, the Nittany Lions fell apart once Ohio State tied the game. One mistake led to another, and the cycle kept going until Ohio State’s fifth goal, which we haven’t seen from Penn State all season.
What’s Next
The Nittany Lions will wrap up its series with the Buckeyes on Saturday. With puck drop slated for 5 p.m., the game can be streamed on BTN+.
