Penn State men’s hockey (12-9-1) suffered another tough loss to No. 13 Notre Dame (15-6-0) Saturday night, this one in overtime.

The Nittany Lions led and controlled play for most of the third period but gave up a game-tying goal to the Fighting Irish with under three minutes left in the period. Then, when Penn State had a faceoff in the offensive zone with nine seconds left in overtime, Notre Dame generated a 2-on-1 chance and scored with 0.2 seconds left on the clock to win the game 5-4.

How It Happened

Oskar Autio got the nod to start in goal for the seventh consecutive game. Adam Pilewicz was also rewarded for his recent performance with a spot in the starting lineup in a packed Pegula Ice Arena.

Starting lineup for the Nittany Lions:

LW: Connor McMenamin
C: Connor MacEachern
RW: Christian Sarlo
D: Jimmy Dowd Jr.
D: Adam Pilewicz

G: Oskar Autio

— Onward Sports (@OnwardStSports) January 8, 2022

Penn State got off to a rough start, as Notre Dame’s Solag Bakich quickly potted a goal just 1:35 into the first period. Notre Dame then quickly took control of the game, which forced Autio to make a few solid saves and do some damage control. Things started to turn for the Nittany Lions when Notre Dame’s Zach Plucinski took a hooking penalty at 5:53 of the first period, sending Penn State to the first power play of the game.

The Nittany Lions didn’t score on the man advantage, but Kevin Wall hammered the puck into the back of the net just seconds after the penalty expired, tying the game at 1-1 at 8:16 of the first period. Penn State continued the scoring when Jimmy Dowd Jr. buried a wraparound goal at 13:41 of the period, giving the Nittany Lions a 2-1 lead.

Just look at Jimmy Dowd Jr. go, man pic.twitter.com/oBm4lrbG4h

— Onward State (@OnwardState) January 8, 2022

Penn State then quickly took control of the game, which seemed to frustrate the Fighting Irish, and it led to their top left winger Jesse Lansdell landing a cheap shot on Paul DeNaples behind the play with just 2:17 remaining in the period. The officials called a penalty on the play, and it was ruled as a game misconduct and five-minute major for contact to the head after review.

Dowd took advantage of the extended power play and scored his second goal of the game off a laser from the point to give Penn State a 3-1 lead at 1:30 of the second period. Notre Dame killed the rest of the penalty.

The Irish had to go right back on the penalty kill, though, when Ryan Helliwell checked Tyler Paquette in the face behind the play, giving Penn State its third power play of the game at 9:29 of the second period. Notre Dame killed the penalty with ease and quickly scored after the penalty expired when Jack Adams barely snuck the puck past Autio to cut Penn State’s lead to 3-2 with 8:06 remaining in the period.

The ice began to tilt away from Penn State, and Notre Dame’s Nick Leivermann took advantage by banking the puck off Autio’s back from behind the goal line to score and tie the game at 3-3 with 3:55 remaining in the second period. Clayton Phillips quickly answered back by finding the top right corner of the goal and scoring with 1:40 to play in the period, giving Penn State a 4-3 lead.

The first ten minutes of the third period didn’t see much action, as the Penn State defense shut down Notre Dame. That all changed when Oskar Autio gave up a huge rebound that found the stick of Notre Dame’s Cam Burke, who buried the puck past Autio to tie the game at 4-4 with 2:14 remaining in the third period. The game then went to overtime.

Notre Dame iced the puck with 8.9 seconds left on the clock, leading to a faceoff in Penn State’s offensive zone. Then, the Nittany Lions gave up a 2-on-1 chance, and Notre Dame’s Max Ellis scored off another huge rebound given up by Autio with just 0.2 seconds left on the clock.

Takeaways

• Well, that wasn’t a great performance by the Nittany Lions. Penn State had control of the game throughout the entire third period but let up a goal to the Irish with just over two minutes remaining. Then, the team completely dropped the ball in the final seconds of overtime by giving up a 2-on-1 chance off a faceoff in its offensive zone. Plays like that can’t happen.
• Have a day, Jimmy Dowd Jr. The sophomore defenseman came into the game with one goal on the season but scored two in the game: a gritty wraparound goal and lazer from the point. Dowd has been flying under the radar on the scoresheet, as he now has 14 points through 21 games played this season.

What’s Next

Penn State will hit the road and take a trip to Ann Arbor for a two-game series with Michigan on Friday, January 14. The puck is set to drop at 7:30 p.m., and the game can be streamed on BTN+.