No. 20 Penn State gets overwhelmed in 5-0 blowout loss to No. 8 Michigan State

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – In search of a positive start to the new year and second half of the season, No. 20 Penn State found itself outskilled, outshot and most shockingly, outworked in a 5-0 loss to No. 8 Michigan State.

Despite home-ice advantage with a raucous crowd and an early power play, it was the Spartans who opened the scoring thanks to Tanner Kelly’s redirect with 15:11 left in the first period.

The power play woes would continue for Penn State, as an odd-man rush shorthanded tally from Reed Lebster doubled the Spartans advantage halfway through the opening 20 minutes.

“Two games in a row we forgot about the defensive side of the puck,” head coach Guy Gadowsky said. “That’s unacceptable at this level.”

The green and white continued to flex their muscles, nearly doubling the Penn State shot total through the first frame of the contest 17-9, emphasizing another slow start for Guy Gadowsky’s squad.

“They beat us at things we typically take pride in,” Gadowsky said. “That’s disappointing when you see an opponent do the things that you prioritize very well.”

The frustration continued to mount for Penn State as Carter Schade was sent off for a chippy cross-check and Carson Dyck exchanged pleasantries with Joey Larson before the first-period horn sounded.

Penn State showed more life early in the second period, but gold-medal-winning goaltender Trey Augustine was up to the task, stoning multiple Grade-A chances from the blue and white.

Augustine’s big saves lifted the Spartans to a three-goal cushion, as Gavin O’Connell buried one through traffic with 16:09 left in the middle frame.

“He won gold for a reason,” Christian Sarlo said. "If he sees it, he's going to save it."

Michigan State continued to keep its foot on the gas, stifling any breakout or neutral zone possession of the blue and white, fully committing to head coach Adam Nightingale’s style of play.

That constant pressure and hounding of the puck led to a fourth goal from Joey Larson with just over five minutes remaining in the second, essentially shutting the door on any Penn State comeback.

One of the few positives from the contest was Penn State’s penalty kill, which went 4-for-5 on the night, thanks to some timely stops from senior netminder Liam Souliere.

While Souliere and Noah Grannan have had a rough go of things this season, Souliere certainly had one of his better outings of the year despite what the scoreboard said.

“This one’s not on the goalie,” Gadowsky said. “He also made some pretty big saves.”

“We believe in our goaltenders,” captain Christian Berger said. “We need to do a better job helping them but we’ve had confidence in them all year.”

The third period got ugly rather quickly, as two Nittany Lions went down with injuries, Dane Dowiak and Carter Schade within the first five minutes.

Dowiak stayed in the game but Carter Schade did not return after his collision, marking concern for a player who just recently came back from injury.

“I don’t think this was overly physical for a Big Ten game,” Gadowsky said. “It’s just tough, Big Ten hockey that you have to be prepared to play, night in night out.”

Joey Larson added insult to injury later in the third period, with a power-play tally to make it a 5-0 contest with his second of the night.

With the 5-0 final and 40-29 shot total in favor of Michigan State, the blue and white have now allowed 12 goals in the last two games and were outshot for just the third time this season, falling to 0-3-0 when such a feat occurs.

“It’s disappointing for me,” Gadowsky said. “I think that they did a great job of planning, taking a page out of our book and it was very effective.”

The blue and white went 5-11-1 last year in the second half of the season, and are seemingly still struggling to change that narrative.

“I don’t think it’s a sense of doing anything different,” Gadowsky said. “It’s a matter of doing what we do at a higher level and being ready to go.”

Joshua Bartosik is a third-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email jsb6137@psu.edu.