The Nittany Lions hosted No. 16 Michigan on Friday night in a pivotal game for both teams. Penn State entered with 25 points in the Big Ten standings, and Michigan came into the game leading the Big Ten with 33 points.

Luckily for Penn State fans, the home team came to play. The Nittany Lions dominated the first half of the game and overcame seven penalties to beat Michigan 6-4 in a game that wasn’t as close as the score indicated.

How It Happened

It was all Nittany Lions early, as the home team scored three goals in the first 11 minutes to put the home team up 3-0.

Eric Scheid scored first just three minutes in after putting one through Michigan goaltender Steve Racine’s five-hole, off assists from Dylan Richard and Scott Conway. David Goodwin followed up just four minutes later with a goal of his own, taking a beautiful cross-ice pass from new linemate Tommy Olczyk and firing it past Racine, glove side. Finally, Hobey Baker Award candidate Casey Bailey got in on the action, shooting a rifle past Racine to make it 3-0 and increasing his Big Ten lead in goals to 22.

The second period picked up right where the first left off, as Penn State scored on the power play three minutes in to take a 4-0 lead. Scott Conway scored his ninth of the year off an assist from fellow freshman Erik Autio.

That’s when the Wolverines woke up. After a faceoff violation penalty on Bailey, captain Andrew Copp got the visitors on the board after he fired the puck past McAdam on the power play at 8:38. Michigan added another power play goal eight minutes later, but any momentum the team hoped to take into the locker room was quelled by Richard, as he scored with 32 seconds left in the period to retake the three-goal lead.

For Michigan, the third period was comprised of one good minute to start the frame, and one good minute to end it. Dylan Larkin cut the Penn State lead to 5-3 just 44 seconds into the period, and Cutler Martin scored with 13 seconds left. Unfortunately for UM, the Nittany Lions dominated the middle 18 minutes. Physical offense and stifling defense stymied the Wolverine attack, and Nate Jensen added the cherry on top when he scored five minutes into the period to give Penn State an even six goals.

Player of the Game

This one goes to the whole second line of Eric Scheid, Dylan Richard, and Scott Conway. Their combined stats: three goals, four assists, 11 shots, and a +5 rating. That is what you call efficiency, folks.

Tweet of the Game

Casey Bailey’s goal, a rocket, is his conference-leading 22nd of the year. We hope the Hobey Baker Award selection committee takes notice.

Here’s Casey Bailey’s goal to put Penn State up 3-0. We’re hoping @HobeyBakerAward watches. (via @Ben_Jones88) https://t.co/XLaw5bxoMU

— Onward Sports (@OnwardStSports) March 7, 2015

Quote of the Game

Our quote of the game comes from one of our players of the game, Eric Scheid.

“It’s always fun beating Michigan… Yeah, [I think this is a rivalry]. Our schools are rivals, the whole Penn State community always rallies when we play Michigan in any sport, so that helps. And I think, we have an above-.500 record against Michigan, we knocked them out of the NCAA Tournament last year, we very easily could have knocked their chances of making the NCAA Tournament this year. We love beating them, they hate losing to us, and it’s showing. The chippiness is increasing. As anyone can see from watching the game, it’s definitely forming into a pretty big rivalry.”

Game Notes

• Kenny Brooks suffered an injury in the first period and left the game. Head coach Guy Gadowsky said Brooks is out for tomorrow.
• Stats: Shots — Penn State 43, Michigan 45. Power play — Penn State 3-of-4, Michigan 2-of-7. Blocked shots — Penn State 20, Michigan 8. Faceoffs — Penn State 41, Michigan 37.

What’s next?

Penn State wraps up its home slate against Michigan today. Senior Day festivities start at 2:40 p.m., and the puck drops at 3 p.m.