Penn State Men’s Hockey Stuns No. 9 Ohio State In Shootout
Penn State men’s hockey (10-10-3, 1-9-3 Big Ten) stole a point against No. 9 Ohio State (15-6-2, 8-4-1 Big Ten) in a shootout in game one of its two-game set against the Buckeyes.
A slow start put Penn State in a 3-0 hole, the Nittany Lions battled back to take a 5-4 lead midway through the third period. Ultimately, the Nittany Lions relinquished the lead after Ohio State scored two goals in two minutes, but Danny Dzhaniyev tied it up with 12 seconds remaining to send the game to overtime. After a scoreless overtime period, Dylan Lugris scored in the shootout to secure the extra point.
Aiden Fink scored two goals, including one on the power play as he continued his strong season. In his return to the lineup, Reese Laubach notched two assists with Matt DiMarsico, JJ Wiebusch, and Dane Dowiak also lighting the lamp.
How It Happened
Ohio State won the opening faceoff and dominated the first five minutes of play, including one scoring chance from the slot that forced Arsenii Sergeev to make a tough save with his body.
Penn State began to come alive as the period reached its halfway point, with the line of DiMarsico, Nicholas DeGraves, and Wiebusch notching numerous scoring chances that forced Buckeyes goalie Kristoffer Eberly to make his first saves of the night.
After an extended shift in its offensive zone, Penn State headed to its first power play as Thomas Weis tripped Carter Schade with under seven minutes to go in the period. Thirty seconds into the man advantage, Ohio State issued a challenge for a potential major penalty and lost, losing its timeout.
The Nittany Lions continued their power play after the brief stoppage in play but did not capitalize and the teams returned to even strength.
With under four minutes remaining, Ohio State opened the scoring. Nathan McBrayer skated into the slot from the blue line unopposed and ripped a snap shot past Sergeev to put the Buckeyes ahead 1-0. Sam Deckhut recorded the lone assist.
The first period ended without further scoring and the teams headed to the locker room with Ohio State ahead by one.
After some back-and-forth play to begin the second period, Ohio State headed to the power play as Keaton Peters took a boarding penalty just three minutes in. On the first wave of the Ohio State power play, Max Montes nearly doubled the lead, but Sergeev made a huge save with his left pad to rob the forward. Penn State killed the remainder of Peters’ penalty and returned to full strength.
Shortly after the successful kill, Ohio State struck again. Montes skated behind the net and dished a pass to Weis in the slot. The forward then fired a wrist shot past Sergeev to double the Buckeyes lead with over five minutes gone in the period.
Penn State forced a turnover in its defensive zone, and after a breakout pass, Keaton Peters was sprung on a breakaway. The forward tried to go five-hole with a backhanded shot, but Eberly made the save to keep the Nittany Lions off of the scoreboard.
With under 10 minutes to go in the period, the Buckeyes executed an offensive zone entry off of the rush and padded their lead. The puck found James Hong in the slot, who fluttered a backhanded shot past the blocker of Sergeev to extend Ohio State’s lead to three goals.
Courtesy of Fink, Penn State got the goal it desperately needed. The forward fanned on his initial shot attempt, and the puck dribbled behind the net, where he immediately scooped it up and fired a shot off of the back of Eberly and into the back of the net. Ohio State challenged for a potential offside ruling, but the goal stood, and the score remained 3-1.
Due to the unsuccessful challenge, Ohio State headed to the penalty kill for a delay of game penalty. The Nittany Lions never threatened with the man advantage, and the Buckeyes avoided further trouble to return to full strength.
Penn State continued to gain momentum as the period wound down and was again rewarded. DiMarsico fired an initial shot that Eberly saved, and after he scooped up the rebound followed by a spinning deke, ripped a shot over the glove of Eberly to get the Nittany Lions within one. DeGraves and Wiebusch recorded the assists on the goal with under three minutes to play.
DiMarsico nearly scored his second of the evening off of an odd-man rush with eight seconds to go, but Eberly used his chest to swallow the puck. The final horn of the second period sounded with Penn State still trailing by a goal.
Penn State came out of its locker room firing, and after consecutive strong shifts in the offensive zone, it tied the game. Lugris scooped up the puck to the left of Eberly and dished a no-look pass to Dowiak, who one-timed the puck into the back of the net to tie things at three goals per side.
Just one minute after the Nittany Lions tied the game, Ohio State took the lead right back. Deckhut took a loose puck in front of Sergeev and tapped it in. Theo Wallberg and Ryan Gordon recorded the assists.
The opening five minutes of chaos continued after the goal, as Penn State appeared to have tied the game. Wiebusch fired a backhanded shot that was saved by Eberly, and the forward crashed into the goalie, causing the net to come loose, but not before the puck appeared to cross the goal line. After a lengthy review, the goal stood, and the Nittany Lions officially tied the game at four.
TIE GAME AGAIN!!!
— Penn State Men’s Hockey (@PennStateMHKY) January 25, 2025pic.twitter.com/8F0jtaIrmu
Laubach took a defensive zone roughing penalty one minute after the goal, and Penn State headed to the penalty kill. Thanks to a strong effort by the penalty kill unit, Penn State returned to full strength and immediately headed to the power play as Danny Dzhaniyev was tripped on a partial breakaway.
On the ensuing power play, Penn State delivered. Laubach dished a cross-ice pass to a crashing Fink, who fired a shot from the right faceoff circle over the glove of Eberly to put the Nittany Lions ahead 5-4. Simon Mack recorded the secondary assist.
The Nittany Lions headed back to the penalty kill after Carter Schade sat for roughing, and Penn State successfully killed the penalty only to surrender a goal just seconds after Schade exited the box. Buckeyes captain Patrick Guzzo notched the goal to tie the game at five with under eight minutes left.
Minutes later, the Buckeyes grabbed the lead back. Riley Thompson beat Sergeev with a wicked wrist shot over the goaltender’s blocker, with Davis Burnside and Chris Able recording the assists.
Things continued to go south for Penn State after Tyler Paquette took a roughing penalty with five minutes remaining, once again sending the Nittany Lions to the penalty kill. Another strong effort from the Nittany Lions kept them down by just one goal.
Guy Gadowsky opted to pull Sergeev for an extra skater with one minute and 30 seconds remaining in the game as Penn State searched for the game-tying goal. After numerous close calls, Dzhaniyev found the back of the net and sent the game to three-on-three overtime.
Ohio State controlled the puck to begin overtime, but a quick burst of offense by Penn State led to DiMarsico firing a shot off the far post with an eventual faceoff in the Ohio State zone.
After a neutral zone turnover by Fink, Hong took the puck on a breakaway and fired a wrister that was turned away by Sergeev with under two minutes to go. The Buckeyes continued to threaten, and a second late burst by Penn State nearly led to a goal, but Dzhaniyev’s shot rang off the post.
Burnside had one final chance in the waning seconds, and Sergeev came up with a huge save to send the game to a shootout.
Sergeev and Eberly traded saves in round one, with the Penn State netminder coming up with a glove save in round two. Dylan Lugris scored to give Penn State a chance to win, and Jake Rozzi rang a wrist shot off the post, giving Penn State the extra point.
Takeaways
- Ohio State came into the game touting one of the best defenses in the Big Ten in terms of both goal and shot prevention, and Penn State flipped the script. The Buckeyes had allowed more than three goals in conference play just twice this season, and the Nittany Lions turned around and scored six, three more than they scored in two games against Ohio State in December.
- What more can be said about how much Fink means to this Penn State team? Nominated for the Hobey Baker Award earlier in the week, the forward scored two more goals to give him 16 on the season and was a major reason why Penn State battled back from its early deficit.
- Slow starts plagued Penn State during the first half of the season, and this issue reared its ugly head for the first time in the second half. Ohio State jumped out to a fast start and went up 3-0 deep into the second period. The Nittany Lions battled back, but you cannot expect to win many games in the Big Ten after trailing by three goals.
What’s Next?
The Nittany Lions face off against the Buckeyes in the final game of their homestand. Puck drop is set for 5 p.m. on Saturday, January 24, and will be streamed on BTN+.
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