Penn State hockey (11-5-2, 3-4-1) jumped out to a 4-1 lead against Princeton, but ultimately squandered the early advantage in a 4-4 tie Saturday night in Philadelphia.

Brandon Biro opened the scoring for the Nittany Lions and Nate Sucese scored a short handed goal in the draw. Peyton Jones made 31 saves on the night.

How It Happened

The Nittany Lions got off to a rocky start when Josh Teves scored to put Princeton into the lead a little more than two minutes into the game. Sloppy defensive zone coverage by Penn State left a giant gap in the middle of the ice for Teves to skate into and rip a shot past Peyton Jones.

The goal seemed to energize the Nittany Lions, as they began to buzz around the Tigers zone in search of an equalizer. It wouldn’t take them long to find it either. Brandon Biro fired a puck home following a Princeton turnover in its own defensive zone to knot things up at one.

Penn State would then take the lead on a short handed goal by Nate Sucese right around the halfway mark. Ludvig Larsson played the puck forward for the speedy winger and Sucese made no mistake, firing the puck past Princeton goaltender Ryan Ferland’s blocker.

Nittany Lion Captain Chase Berger would extended the lead before intermission to close out the first period with a 3-1 lead.

The Nittany Lions got off to a very quick to start in the second stanza. Alec Marsh jumped all over a loose puck at the top of the Penn State defensive zone, outraced two Princeton defenders all the way down the ice, and then made a nice move around Ferland to extend the Nittany Lion lead to 4-1.

The rest of the period would be a back and forth affair with both sides creating scoring opportunities.  With less than three minutes remaining in the second, Max Véronneau pulled the Tigers back within two. Véronneau raced behind the Penn State defense and snuck the puck through Jones’ five hole, and the period ended with the Nittany Lions leading 4-2.

Princeton began to really put Penn State under pressure in the third period.

The Tigers heavily out-shot the Nittany Lions 17-7 in the period. Their hard work finally paid off when Véronneau squeezed a puck past Jones’ left pad to pull Princeton back within one with just more than four minutes remaining in the period.

With about a minute remaining Ryan Kuffner pounced on a rebound and fired the puck past a sprawling Jones to tie the game. The two teams went to overtime tied at four apiece and battled through the extra session to a 4-4 tie.

Takeaways

• Even without Evan Barratt, the Penn State offense kept humming along. The Nittany Lions followed up their nine-goal performance last week against Notre Dame with four more goals from four different goal scorers. Penn State’s biggest strength continues to be its depth up front.
• Brandon Biro was all over the ice tonight. Biro opened up the scoring for the Nittany Lions, and he didn’t stop there. He was a menace on the forecheck all night, consistently making smart decisions with the puck. Princeton defenders will be happy to have seen the last of him this season.
• The Nittany Lions have to improve defensively if they have any aspirations of making noise in either the Big Ten Tournament or the NCAA Tournament. Penn State has surrendered three or more goals in nine out of its last ten games.

What’s Next

The Nittany Lions will not be back in action until 2019, when they travel to Minnesota to take on the Gophers on Friday, January 4.