Playing in front of a national audience on ESPNews, Penn State men’s hockey put together a complete performance against Wisconsin, dominating all three periods en route to an impressive 5-2 victory in the Kohl Center on Friday night.

Sophomore David Goodwin tallied three assists and a goal, notching his first career four-point game. David Glen and Dylan Richard each scored in their return to the ice after missing the Frozen Apple in Madison Square Garden with injuries, helping the Nittany Lions (8-4-2, 2-1-0-0 Big Ten) topple the Badgers (1-9-1, 0-1-0-0 Big Ten) to earn their second conference win after splitting with Michigan earlier this season.

“Dylan [Richard] and David [Glen] were big reasons to our success tonight,” head coach Guy Gadowsky said. “It’s not as important that they scored, but that they’re good leaders. What they bring in terms of character is tremendous.”

From the moment the puck dropped at center ice, Penn State took control of the game. The Lions fired the first nine shots on goal in the opening minutes before getting on the scoreboard 11 minutes in on a goal by David Glen. With Penn State on the powerplay, David Goodwin won the faceoff on the left circle in the Badgers end, feeding the puck to Casey Bailey who took a shot from the left point that was knocked down by Goodwin. The puck bounced to Glen, who fired a quick shot top shelf that popped the water bottle behind Wisconsin goalie Joel Rumpel to give Penn State an early 1-0 lead.

Three minutes later, James Robinson stole a puck in his own end after a Wisconsin player fell down at the point, raced in toward goal unopposed, and shot a wrister past Rumpel for a 2-0 lead with 5:37 remaining in the first period. The snipe was the freshman’s first collegiate goal in 10 career games.

Wisconsin was able to slow the momentum right before the end of the period when the Badgers’ Keegan Ford blasted a slapshot from the blue line that Morgan Zulinick tipped in with 1:50 left in the frame to cut the lead in half, but Penn State took a one goal lead and 14-6 edge in shots into the first intermission.

Much like the first period, Penn State would assume complete control of the game in the second frame, outshooting Wisconsin 15-8. The Lions would once again set the tone early, scoring just 3:03 in the period when Richard lit the lamp from in close to extend the lead back to two goals. Goodwin was able to intercept a Wisconsin pass on the left boards and quickly fired a shot on net that hit Bailey and fell right in Richard’s lap. The “Rocket” did the rest, roofing the puck over a sprawled-0ut Rumpel.

Wisconsin’s Cameron Hughes earned a five-minute major and a game misconduct after he checked Tommy Olczyk 20 seconds into the third period to give a Penn State a long power play.

On the man-advantage, Bailey notched his 10th of the year on a wrister from the top of the slot to as his shot slid through traffic and Rumpel’s five-hole 2:31 into the period. After defenseman Luke Juha broke his stick on a shot attempt earlier in the powerplay, Goodwin showed tremendous awareness to hold the puck near the blue line and wait for Juha to return from the bench with a new piece of lumber. The heads-up play allowed Goodwin to find Bailey, who gave the Lions a comfortable three-goal lead.

Wisconsin would cut the lead to two on a Tim Davison power-play goal with 11:35 remaining, but it wasn’t enough as sophomore goalie Eamon McAdam looked poised in net all night, turning aside 22 shots.

The Badgers elected to pull Rumpel with 3:46 remaining for the extra attacker, allowing Penn State to earn its first empty-net goal of the season as Goodwin collected a David Thompson pass to score a 190-foot goal, his sixth of the year, with 40.9 seconds remaining as the 8,957 fans at the Kohl Center headed for the exits.

Penn State will be back on the ice at 9 p.m. against Wisconsin on Saturday before getting three weeks off. The Nittany Lions will resume play on Dec. 29 when they face Robert Morris in the Three Rivers Classic in Pittsburgh’s CONSOL Energy Center.

Game Notes

• With the win, Penn State moves into a tie for first place in the Big Ten with Michigan. The Lions 8 overall wins rank second in the conference, one behind No. 6 Minnesota.
• Penn State won its eighth game of the season. The Nittany Lions won eight all of last season.
• Eamon McAdam picked up his third win of the season in four starts after finishing last season 0-9.
• Casey Bailey is riding a six-game point streak dating back to Nov. 14 at UMass Lowell. During that span he has six goals, four assists and 10 points, and now ranks third in the nation in goals with 10.
• Five different Nittany Lions tallied goals. The last time five goals were scored by five different players was Nov. 11, 2013 in a 5-4 win over Robert Morris.
• Penn State finished 2-for-5 on the powerplay, bumping the Lions into fifth place nationally with a 25.42 percent scoring rate with a man-advantage.