No. 17 Penn State men’s hockey (16-11-2, 8-10-1 Big Ten) opened its series against Michigan State (11-15-5, 7-10-4 Big Ten) with a 5-3 defeat at Munn Ice Arena in East Lansing.

Nikita Pavlychev, Ludvig Larsson, and Sam Sternschein scored for the Nittany Lions, but conceding three goals in the third period was the difference in tonight’s game.

Goaltender Peyton Jones was pulled midway through the second period after conceding four goals on 13 shots. Freshman Oskar Autio made 12 saves on 13 shots in relief.

How It Happened

Penn State actually got the first power play of Friday’s game, but simultaneous penalties to Alex Limoges and Evan Barratt set up Michigan State with a 5-on-3 power play for two minutes.

The Spartans pounced on the opportunity. Patrick Khodorenko — the center of Michigan State’s dynamic “KHL” line — tapped the puck in at the back door to give his team a 1-0 lead at 4:20 of the first period.

Nikita Pavlychev answered less than two minutes later with a power play goal of his own. He buried the rebound of a Denis Smirnov point shot to tie things up at one with 13 minutes to play in the first period.

Austin Kamer gave Michigan State its lead back by sniping a shot past Peyton Jones with 5:14 left in the first period. The sophomore was unmarked in the high slot, and he used a screen to beat Jones cleanly with a wrister. The first period ended with Penn State trailing by a goal despite leading 12-8 in shots on goal.

Michigan State got off to an equally strong start to the second period with a goal 2:19 into the frame. Tommy Miller beat Jones cleanly to extend his team’s lead to 3-1. The Spartans extended their lead to 4-1 with 11:31 left in the second, and Jones was subsequently pulled from the net and replaced by Oskar Autio.

Brennan Sanford continued the rout in the second with a goal off an egregious turnover in front of Autio’s goal. Michigan State took a 5-1 lead despite only registering 14 shots on goal in the first 30 minutes of the game.

Ludvig Larsson stopped the bleeding with a power play goal just a few inches away from goal to trim the deficit to 5-2 with 8:46 to play in the middle frame. Sam Sternschein gave the comeback bid a huge boost with a beautiful shot past Michigan State’s goalie to pull his team within two with 2:05 to play in the second.

Penn State entered the intermission with a healthy 28-19 lead in shots, but trailed by two on the scoreboard that matters. The Nittany Lions went to the power play midway through the third period, but couldn’t capitalize despite peppering the Michigan State goal with chances.

The Spartans fended off the rest of Penn State’s comeback bid to wrap up a much-needed conference victory and leapfrog the Nittany Lions in the Big Ten standings.

Takeaways

• Evan Barratt left the game in the first period with an apparent injury and didn’t return. He took a hard hit on the Brody Stevens elbowing penalty that set up Nikita Pavlychev’s power play goal. His status for tomorrow’s game is unknown.
• Penn State reverted back to its usual, turnover-prone self on defense, and it got burned for it in the worst way. Michigan State busted tonight’s game wide open in the second period thanks to awful puck management by the Nittany Lions.
• Entering tonight’s game, more than half of the Spartans’ goals came from their “KHL” line. That line was limited to just one goal, but Michigan State’s depth came out of nowhere to light up Penn State.

What’s Next

The Nittany Lions and Spartans will finish off this weekend’s series at 7 p.m. Saturday back at the Munn.