Unfortunately, the Nittany Lions will have to wait until next weekend for another shot to pick up their first Big Ten win of the season.

Penn State dropped both games this weekend against a strong Ohio State team (14-9-1), losing game one on Friday, 5-1, and game two on Saturday, 5-2. The Nittany Lions are now 4-17-1 on the year.

Not much seemed to go Penn State’s way on Friday, as Ohio State scored midway through the first to take a 1-0 lead into the first intermission. The floodgates then opened up for the Buckeyes in the second, as Matt Johnson, Max McCormick, and Ryan Dzingel all scored for Ohio State in the second period, and Penn State went into the locker room down 4-0.

David Goodwin notched a power play goal early in the third period for Penn State to make the score 4-1, but it was all the Nittany Lions could muster despite putting 47 shots on Buckeye goaltender Christian Frey (46 saves, .979 save percentage). The Nittany Lions pulled Eamon McAdam (27 saves, .871 save percentage) on a 4-on-4 situation to give Penn State the 5-on-4 opportunity with eleven minutes left, but the opportunity backfired and Dzingel scored the empty netter to put the Buckeyes up 5-1.

Penn State got out to a much better start on Saturday, as Dylan Richard was able to find the back of the net just three minutes into the contest to give Penn State the early 1-0 advantage. Just four minutes later, Casey Bailey put Penn State up 2-0 with a rebound goal off a Jacob Friedman shot and the Nittany Lions headed into the first intermission with a comfortable lead.

However, Ohio State’s Tanner Fritz got on the Buckeyes on the board with a power play goal just two minutes into the second to make the score 2-1. Shortly after, Eric Scheid took a penalty and Ohio State was able to capitalize again as Dzingel tied the game up at 2. The action went back and forth for the remainder of the period until Ohio State’s Anthony Greco pushed one past Matthew Skoff to take a 3-2 lead with just a minute left in the second period.

The Nittany Lions were unable to take the momentum at the start of the third, and McCormick took advantage by scoring just two minutes in. An empty netter from the Buckeyes late in the period rounded out the scoring, and Penn State lost its second match off the weekend, 5-2.

Penn State’s losing streak extended to eight games with its last win being a 3-2 victory over Robert Morris on December 27. The Nittany Lions will return to Pegula on February 7, when 12th ranked Michigan comes to Happy Valley.