Penn State Men’s Hockey came off an impressive overtime win against (former) No. 3 Notre Dame in South Bend, returning to action against Canisius College. The No. 19 Nittany Lions came out looking like they had something to prove, giving Canisius more than they could handle in every aspect of the game. Penn State took down Canisius 4-1 behind an eye-opening 65 shots.

How It Happened

The Nittany Lions came out firing, looking confident after making their way into the national rankings this week. Early in the first period, Penn State was awarded a powerplay, but struggled to capitalize on the 5-4 advantage. It was  awarded a second powerplay just minutes later, and this time it established possession in the offensive zone, leading to Brandan Biro’s first goal of the season and the first of the game. The puck was fired in towards goal from distance, eventually finding its way to Biro in front of the net. Assists on the play came from Nate Sucese and Trevor Hamilton. On the fifth powerplay of the first period, Guy Gadowsky’s squad scored to extend the margin to 2 goals. Denis Smirnov beat a defender and sent the puck out in front of net, finding Erik Autio who cooly laid it off to Vince Pedrie for the goal.

Within the first minute of the second period, Penn State went on its sixth powerplay – to no one’s surprise. Canisius forward Mike Sabitini gave chase to the puck in the Penn State zone, eventually losing his footing and crashing hard into the boards. The Nittany Lions counterattacked on what became a 5-on-3. David Goodwin found himself in plenty of space along the right wing, taking his time before he found Chase Berger in front of net for the goal. This goal gave Gadowsky and his team a 3-0 lead. Canisius started playing better hockey and created a few more opportunities towards the end of the second period. The increased pressure and possession paid off for the Golden Griffins as they broke through with a goal from Dylan McLaughlin with about a minute left before the intermission, bringing the game to 3-1.

The third period of play was not as smooth as the rest of the night for the Nittany Lions. Canisius not only played a better period than the previous ones, but some mistakes made closing out the game a little bit tougher than it had to be. A five-minute major for charging against Trevor Hamilton put the Nittany Lions on the defensive, but an excellent penalty kill bailed out the young team. Penn State had two more players sent to the penalty box in the third period. With that said, a total of three penalties throughout the course of the game for Guy Gadowsky’s team was very impressive.

With about two minutes left, Canisius pulled Daniel Urbani from goal, and the Penn State attack found the back of the net almost immediately. Goodwin intercepted a Canisius pass in the offensive zone, and assisted Smirnov to make it 4-1.

Takeaways

• It was hard to truly judge Penn State’s performance of this game, mostly just because there were so many powerplays that went its way. It certainly played well, but the game never felt like it was going to slip away.
• Peyton Jones looked totally comfortable and in goal, not to mention plenty talented for the starting role.
• This young team is still making mistakes. Guy Gadowsky has talked a lot about the youth of this team heading into the season. The third period was one of some unnecessary mistakes as Gadowsky’s team sent three players to the penalty box for a total of nine minutes. The lead was only two goals, and Big Ten teams will probably take advantage of those sorts of mistakes late in games.

What’s Next

Penn State will play Canisius again tomorrow (Saturday, October 29) at 7 p.m. in Happy Valley.