No. 4 Penn State Women’s Hockey Comeback Falls Short To No. 7 Northeastern
No. 4 Penn State women’s hockey (16-1-0, 12-0-0 AHA) dropped its first game of the season 3-2 on the road against No. 7 Northeastern (13-2-0, 9-0-0 HEA).
Not much went the Nittany Lions’ way, especially early on, with Katie DeSa having her worst game of the season and Tessa Janecke receiving a game misconduct in the second period. Despite outshooting Northeastern 36-18, Penn State was handed its first loss of the year in brutal fashion. Even with a late-game comeback effort, the Nittany Lions couldn’t overcome a 3-0 deficit.
How It Happened
Janecke won the opening draw to get the game started. It was a slow start for both teams with little action in the first ten minutes. However, Penn State got a few of the first chances of the game after the midway point of the period. All were stopped by Northeastern goalie Lisa Jönsson.
The Nittany Lion effort was rewarded with a power play opportunity with just over seven minutes left in the first frame. Northeastern would unsuccessfully challenge the play for a major penalty. Penn State mustered just two shots on the power play and couldn’t manage to get much going before the clock expired on the penalty.
With under a minute left in the period, Jaden Bogden would fire Northeastern’s first shot and goal of the game. Penn State would head into the locker room up 16-1 on shots but down 1-0 on the scoreboard.
Penn State kept applying pressure to begin the second period, but still couldn’t manage to find the back of the net. The Huskies were able to get more offensive zone time this period and get more shots on net, but DeSa stood strong to get her first saves of the game.
With just under seven minutes left in the period, Northeastern’s Alessia Baechler expanded the Huskies’ lead with an unassisted goal.
Lily Shannon would make it 3-0 Northeastern with an assist by Bogden. Janecke was assessed a five-minute major for hitting from behind that would start at puck drop after the goal. She would also receive a game misconduct and wouldn’t be able to return to the game.
Penn State would stop the bleeding going into the second intermission, but would still have two minutes left on the Janecke major.
Maddy Campbell would get the nod at goalie for Penn State in the third. She would replace DeSa in net. The Nittany Lions would kill the rest of the major penalty to begin the final period. Shortly after, they would use the momentum to get on the scoreboard with a Grace Outwater wrister off of a faceoff win by Mikah Keller. Keller was filling in for Janecke as the team’s first-line center.
The comeback effort would continue four minutes later, as Mya Vaslet scored one unassisted to cut the deficit to one.
Just a minute later, Penn State would get its second power play chance of the game after a Northeastern tripping minor by Tristan Thompson. The Huskies’ penalty kill shone again, killing the penalty despite the Nittany Lions getting several good looks.
Penn State would pull Campbell from the net with under a minute and a half remaining. On the next stoppage of play, they would use their timeout.
Northeastern held on and didn’t allow for any late heroics from Penn State, giving them their first loss of the season, 3-2.
Takeaways
- A rough game from Katie DeSa, who posted a .625 save percentage and only stopped five of eight shots. She was pulled after the second period.
- Penn State controlled much of the game offensively, doubling Northeastern shots 36-18.
- Despite the loss, Penn State’s comeback effort in the third period was admirable, especially coming from a team that’s been dominant all season and hasn’t faced much adversity.
What’s Next?
Penn State will look to get revenge and tie the series with Northeastern at 2 p.m. on Saturday, November 29. The game will not be streamed live and will take place at Dorothy Talbot Skating Rink in Gloucester, Massachusetts.
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