It had to happen eventually — No. 2 Penn State hockey snapped its 13-game unbeaten streak last night on the road. The Nittany Lions fell 3-0 to No. 11 Ohio State in the first game they’ve been shut out in since a 5-0 loss to Minnesota on March 13, 2015. General sluggishness from break, tight Buckeye defense, and inability to capitalize on four power play opportunities contributed to the Nittany Lion loss.

How It Happened

Dylan Richard almost set things off right for Penn State with a power play goal at 14:00 in the first, but the play was reviewed and overturned because he kicked it in with his skate. Ohio State got on the board first when a wrister from Drew Brevig made it through considerable congestion with 2:15 left in the period.

Both teams started to shake off some rust and play top-20 caliber hockey in the second, despite the low-scoring nature of the game. The period almost went scoreless thanks to stellar goaltending on both ends until the Buckeyes won a late-period offensive draw and capitalized accordingly, extending their lead 2-0 off another wrister (this time from Luke Stork).

Penn State had one more period to turn things around, but it couldn’t. Ohio State’s John Wiitala sealed the deal for his team on an empty net with less than three minutes left to play, and the final score was 3-0 Buckeyes.

What’s Next

Penn State and Ohio State finish out their series tonight at 8 p.m.

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I’ll have more thoughts for you once this series ends tonight. My apologies for the lateness and brevity of this recap — I’m coming at you live from a Boston snowstorm.