No. 15 Penn State men’s hockey (13-10-2, 5-9-1 Big Ten) opened its series against Michigan (9-9-6, 5-5-4 Big Ten) with a 5-1 defeat at Yost Ice Arena.

Ludvig Larsson scored for the Nittany Lions in the third period, but a complete collapse in the second by Penn State’s defense essentially decided the result of the contest after 40 minutes.

Freshman goalie Oskar Autio made 31 saves in his first collegiate start.

How It Happened

The first period of tonight’s game at Yost Ice Arena was pretty evenly matched, but neither team could find the back of the net. Penn State turned the puck over once or twice in its own zone, but put together a solid overall effort.

Michigan opened the scoring early in the second period through a Dakota Raabe breakaway. Raabe took a great stretch pass at the blue line and burst past Penn State’s defense to give Michigan a 1-0 lead with 15:50 left in the frame.

The Nittany Lion defense then proceeded to completely implode in front of Oskar Autio. Jake Slaker tucked a one-timer past Autio on the power play to extend the Wolverine lead to two goals, and Nick Boka scored his second goal of the year 14 seconds later to triple Penn State’s deficit.

To make matters worse, Will Lockwood jammed the puck past Autio after a chaotic net-front scramble to make the score 4-0 with 5:47 left in the frame. 52 seconds elapsed between Slaker’s power play goal and Lockwood’s ninth of the year.

Ludvig Larsson scored a consolation goal to extend his personal goal-scoring streak to three games, but it wasn’t enough to ignite a comeback. Michigan scored an empty-netter and saw out the remainder of the game to improve to 9-9-6 on the season.

Takeaways

• Oskar Autio made his first NCAA start in goal for the Nittany Lions. He played well, making 31 saves on 35 shots, but he definitely didn’t get too much help from his defensive unit.
• The Penn State defense actually put together a strong first period tonight, but it completely fell apart in the middle frame. Turnovers, complete breakdowns in coverage, and open passing lanes were the name of the game on defense
• A big part of Penn State’s demise against Ohio State last weekend was its lack of discipline, but that wasn’t as much of a concern on Thursday. The team’s first penalty was an Alec Marsh slashing penalty halfway through the period, but it led to the goal that sparked Michigan’s three-goal outburst in 52 seconds.
• There’s a reason why the Vancouver Canucks drafted Wolverine defenseman Quinn Hughes with the seventh overall pick in last summer’s NHL Draft. He didn’t score a point on Thursday, but his elite skating ability was on full display as he broke up several odd-man rush opportunities for Penn State.

What’s Next

Penn State and Michigan will close out this weekend’s series at 7 p.m. Saturday at Madison Square Garden in New York City. That game will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network.