Penn State men’s hockey (10-7-3, 2-5-3 Big Ten) bested the Army Black Knights (5-14, 3-9 AHA) in a thrilling 7-6 come-from-behind victory on Saturday at Pegula Ice Arena.

Noah Grannan began the game as goaltender but was pulled in favor of Liam Souliere early in the first period after giving up three goals. The Black Knights held on to their lead throughout the first two periods, but Fink brought the Nittany Lions all the way back with just under 10 minutes left in the game.

How It Happened

Grannan got the start between the pipes for head coach Guy Gadowsky and the “identity line,” of Tyler Paquette, Xander Lamppa, and Christian Sarlo started the game for the Nittany Lions.

Penn State was gifted a penalty less than a minute into the game when Easton Zueger was called for interference. Penn State’s power play unit didn’t take long to score when Aiden Fink collected a pass from Matt DiMarsico and beat Gavin Abric to give Penn State a 1-0 lead.

However, Penn State was caught with too many men on the ice, and Army was sent to the power play. Penn State’s penalty killers got the job done and Army’s power play came to an end after just one shot from the Black Knights.

From there, both teams finally settled into full-strength hockey. Neither team held the puck in its zone for long, and the defenses started to take over the game.

Army got another chance on a man advantage after Lamppa was called for roughing during a scrum at the net. The Black Knights had a consistent offensive zone presence and found the back of the net after Mac Gadowsky connected with Jake Hewitt in the slot to tie the game at one apiece. Army grabbed the momentum created by its first score and kept Penn State on its heels.

Army found itself on a two-on-one break before Brent Keefer collected a pass on the opposite side of the ice and went top corner on Grannan, giving the Black Knights the lead. It didn’t end there, though, and Andrew Garby made it 3-1 in favor of the Black Knights just 19 seconds later.

Grannan headed to the bench, and Souliere took over in goal.

The Nittany Lions finally caught a break when Jake Felker was called for a trip, and Penn State went to its second power play of the night. Danny Dzhaniyev had a chance in front of the net early in the advantage but was denied by Abric. The long rebound was collected by Army and cleared out of the zone in what was the only Penn State chance as Army got the kill.

Mack kickstarted the Nittany Lions when he found the back of the net from the blue line with three minutes left in the period to bring Penn State back to within one goal at 3-2.

The last three minutes generated no real chances for either team, and the Nittany Lions skated to the break trailing 3-2.

Army started hot in the second period and capitalized on a two-on-one break less than a minute into the game to go back up by two goals at 4-2. The momentum was once again tipping Army’s way, but it was completely gone for Penn State when Joey Biaz recorded his second point of the game and put the Nittany Lions in a 5-2 hole.

Down by three, the Nittany Lions went on a man advantage after a scuffle at the net led to a slashing call on Army. Penn State had multiple chances on the power play but couldn’t find paydirt before Army’s Max Itagaki found himself on a breakaway and scored a shorthanded goal to push the lead to 6-2. The Black Knights had matched their first-period production in the first five minutes of period two.

An interference call put Penn State on the power play again with 13 minutes left in the second period. The Black Knights held strong, and Penn State couldn’t score after putting five shots on net during the advantage.

A period of back-and-forth skating followed before Reese Laubach deflected a DiMarsico shot to beat Abric and cut the Army lead down to three with seven minutes left in the frame.

Penn State started to generate quality chances but couldn’t break through. Finally, Ryan Kirwan intercepted a pass at the blue line, shook a defender, and buried the puck in the back of the net. The goal was the last of the period and the Nittany Lions went to the third period trailing 6-4.

Penn State caught a break early on in the final frame as Souliere was caught outside the crease. Army couldn’t connect on the open net and play continued on with the Nittany Lions down by two.

Kirwan struck again not two minutes later as a shot deflected into the net and brought the Nittany Lions back to within one trailing 5-6. The Nittany Lions completed the comeback a minute later when Christian Berger beat Abric and made it four straight Penn State goals.

Penn State managed a few more chances in the subsequent minutes after tying the game up, the best coming on a Dane Dowiak rebound that Dzhaniyev couldn’t slam home. Abric continued to lockdown the net when Fink crashed the crease and the rebound from Berger went off the pipe. After a review to make sure the puck didn’t cross the goalline, the teams headed into the final 10 minutes tied at 6-6.

Things started to get chippy, and matching roughing minor penalties created four-on-four hockey. While Carter Schade and Owen Nolan continued their verbal assault from the penalty box, Fink quietly crept into the offensive zone and put the Nittany Lions back on top for the first time since the first period at 7-6.

After that, Penn State held strong on defense and tried to protect its one-goal lead. Army unleashed a barrage of shots in the final minute of play, but the Nittany Lion defense delivered when it needed to, and Penn State’s comeback victory was completed on the heels of five straight goals to win 7-6.

Takeaways

• Penn State’s defense struggled and the Nittany Lions didn’t give their goaltenders any early help. Multiple odd-man rushes led to centering passes and goals for the Black Knights in Saturday night’s win. Outside of the first five minutes of the second frame, the Black Knights didn’t do much offensively and scored their three goals on eight total shots in the period.
• The offense eventually got hot but later than it needed to. Penn State only put up eight shots in the first period of the game but came back with 22 shots in the second period.
• Aiden Fink and Ryan Kirwan both recorded two-goal games and led the team to the comeback victory. Penn State hadn’t played a game since December 9, and the rust was evident. It took two periods, but Penn State eventually returned to the level of hockey it normally plays.

What’s Next?

Penn State men’s hockey will be back in action against the Michigan State Spartans at 7 p.m. on Friday, January 12, inside Pegula Arena.