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Penn State Hockey: Regular Season Ends with 7-1 Loss to Notre Dame

Penn State hockey fell 7-1 on Saturday night for a third-straight loss to Notre Dame in as many games despite the Nittany Lions taking a 1-0 lead into the second period.

Oskar Autio was strong in goal in the early going, making 12 saves in the opening 20 minutes of play as Notre Dame pushed for an equalizer following a goal by Nittany Lion freshman Christian Sarlo.

The Irish would find the tying goal and more, taking a 3-1 lead into the third period after Alex Steeves tied the game up just 33 seconds into the middle frame. Notre Dame would score again just under a minute later to go ahead 3-1 and then scoring once again with eight minutes gone by in the period.

Midway in the game’s final period a major penalty would send Penn State to a shorthanded 5-on-3 situation, oddly enough despite the final score, the Nittany Lions killed off the 5-on-3 without giving up any goals.

Notre Dame would score three more times in the game’s final 10 minutes to put away an already decided contest.

Penn State will face Notre Dame once again next weekend this time in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament. The game will mark the fifth-straight for the Nittany Lions against the Irish having won just one of the previous four meetings, an overtime meeting at Pegula Ice Area. That game was the first of the five game stretch.

The Nittany Lions currently sit at 9-11 on the year and appears to be on the brink of the program’s first losing season since 2013-14. Penn State started off the 2020-21 campaign at 0-5 before going on to win nine of its next 13 games. COVID-19 testing issues saw the program pause all competition for 34-straight days.

The following eight games were subsequently canceled or – at the time – postponed.