No. 18 Penn State men’s hockey (16-11-4, 7-10-4 Big Ten) tied No. 1 Michigan State (22-5-4, 13-4-4 Big Ten) 2-2 but won a shootout on Friday night in Munn Ice Arena in East Lansing, Michigan. The game officially went down as a tie.

Penn State grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first period before Michigan State tied it in the second. The visitors tallied another goal shortly before the second intermission, but the Spartans tied it again in the third period.

An action-packed overtime wasn’t enough to settle the score. Dylan Lugris won it with a fourth-round goal to stun the crowd in East Lansing.

How It Happened

Michigan State won the opening faceoff, and David Gucciardi tested Arsenii Sergeev with two early shots. Penn State took the puck down the ice and Reese Laubach did the same to Trey Augustine, who also saved the shot.

At 7:18 into the first period, though, Dane Dowiak sniped a shot past Augustine and into the net to give the visitors a 1-0 lead early on.

Tommi Männistö was called for hooking at 17:43, but Charlie Cerrato was given a tripping penalty not even two minutes later. Neither team scored on their respective power plays, which extended into the second period.

Penalties against Patrick Geary and Karsen Dorwart gave the Nittany Lions a five-on-three power play early in the second period. They sent a barrage of shots toward Augustine and challenged the Spartans’ penalty kill for the entire duration, but they held the Nittany Lions at bay.

Four minutes later, another Michigan State penalty against Charlie Stramel gave Penn State another significant opportunity. But again, stout Spartan defense and goaltending from Augustine continued to keep the deficit to one goal.

Then, at 12:11 in the second period, Tiernan Shoudy scored on a shot that zipped past Sergeev to make it 1-1.

From there, Michigan State maintained momentum. The Spartans sent a barrage of shots toward Sergeev.

It appeared the Spartans had all the momentum, until late in the period. Reese Laubach sped down the ice and went top shelf to grab a 2-1 lead at 19:04 in the period.

At 8:36 in the third period, Maxim Štrbák sent a slapshot blazing into the net to tie it 2-2.

Michigan State controlled the puck more often than not throughout the third period. The Spartans kept it in their offensive zone and challenged Sergeev with shots. The Nittany Lions had some decent looks toward the end, but overtime was needed to settle the score.

Penn State developed an odd-man rush, but Augustine nabbed the puck at the last second. Michigan State trudged down the ice and followed suit, with Sergeev again coming up big.

Both goaltenders came up big in overtime and sent it to a shootout.

Both teams scored a goal in the first three attempts of the shootout. Then, Laubach went top shelf in the fourth round to win it in for Penn State.

Takeaways

• Sergeev was sensational in securing two points for Penn State. He’s frequently a takeaway here, but the importance of good goaltending cannot be understated, especially against the No. 1 team on the road. He made 36 saves and was named the second star of the game.
• Penn State’s power play could use some work to secure a win tomorrow. It went 0-for-4, including a two-man advantage in the second period. It’s hard to do that and not lose against such a good team.
• On the flip side, Augustine deserves credit. He made 31 saves and was named the first star of the game. Although he wasn’t statistically as good as his counterpart, he made several dazzling saves to keep the Spartans in the game.

What’s Next?

The Nittany Lions and the Spartans finish the series at 6 p.m. on Saturday in East Lansing.