Penn State men’s hockey edges rival Ohio State in return to Pegula | Penn State Sports

After a nine day break, No. 6 Penn State was back in action for a home contest against one of its biggest rivals in No. 17 Ohio State.

With both teams excelling this season, the first meeting of the season between the Big Ten programs ended in a 2-1 victory for the Nittany Lions.

The first period was a fairly uneventful one offensively, with both teams entering and exiting the other team’s defensive zone frequently.

With both teams dealing with some offensive frustrations, a scuffle broke out with just over six minutes left in the opening frame.

This led to a 4-on-3 advantage for the Buckeyes after Penn State’s Carter Schade and Xander Lamppa, as well as Ohio State’ Dalton Messina, were taxed with two minutes in the box for roughing. This sense of physicality and animosity only continued as time went on, and added another layer to an already-competitive contest.

Despite the numbers advantage for the visitors, they were unable to break the first period dryspell. Penn State, however, did just that. With 91 seconds remaining before intermission, senior forward Connor MacEachern rocketed the puck past Ohio State goalie Jakub Dobes to put Penn State up 1-0.

This early lead wouldn’t last forever, but the Nittany Lions did protect it for a long time during the middle frame. By winning 17 of 24 faceoffs during the period, Penn State was able to keep its offensive chances coming.

Nonetheless, Ohio State was the team to get on the scoreboard during this section, as sophomore Cole McWard converted a long-distance shot from the blue line to knot things up between the rivals. Not only were they tied at one goal apiece, the two teams were also identical in shot attempts on goal, with both firing off 22 throughout the opening 40 minutes.

When crunch time arrived during the final period, the action once again stalled for a while. The score remained the same with just ten minutes left to go, and Ohio State held a narrow shot attempt advantage of 31-27.

Amid the final stretch, the Buckeyes committed a pair of penalties back-to-back, giving the blue and white a pair of power plays that briefly overlapped for a 29-second spell of 5-on-3 play.

Despite not capitalizing on this numbers’ advantage, Penn State rapidly made up for it when junior Jimmy Dowd Jr. sailed in the go-ahead score just seconds after Ohio State returned to full strength following the penalty kill.

Dowd Jr.’s third goal of the season was just the difference maker his team needed, and it allowed Penn State to emerge with the narrow 2-1 win, overcoming the closely contested pace much of the game had been played at.

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