Slow Start for Penn State spells doom against No. 14 Michigan

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State kicked off THON weekend on a sour note at Pegula Ice Arena, with a comeback effort falling just short against the No. 8 Michigan Wolverines 5-3.

Michigan hit the ground running, with goals on its first two shots from Rutger McGroarty and Josh Eernisse just 60 seconds into the game.

Those quick strikes sapped the energy right out of Pegula early, making the hole for the Nittany Lions that much deeper.

“The last time we played them we kind of took it to them a little bit and we thought that was going to happen again,” Reese Laubach said. “They proved that’s not how it is in this conference.”

Penn State continued to drag its skates, with a too-many-men penalty just three minutes in and was held outside of the offensive zone for the first six minutes of the opening frame.

For a team that has been looking to fire on all cylinders according to head coach Guy Gadowsky, seemingly no cylinders were firing as the maize and yellow dominated every inch of the ice within the first 10 minutes.

“It’s just one aspect of our game seems to falter,” Gadowsky said. “I’m going to choose to say it’s not frustrating, but we’re impatient.”

The Nittany Lions seemingly settled into the game after the media timeout, but still were unable to crack Jake Barczewski and the Wolverine defense.

Another penalty on Penn State led to a second goal from McGroarty to put a bow on a dominating first period for the maize and yellow with 1:46 left in the opening 20.

To make matters worse for the blue and white, Tyler Paquette went down with an injury during the penalty kill and immediately went down the tunnel. He would return to start the second period, luckily for Penn State.

The blue and white started the second period with leftover power-play time thanks to a Tanner Rowe slash, but similar to the first period could not find twine.

The Nittany Lions were gifted another power play, but a turnover from Simon Mack led to a short-handed breakaway goal from Dylan Duke with 16:13 to go in the middle period.

The chemistry between all four forward lines and three defensive pairings continued to be at an all-time low, with an abundance of turnovers and passes that never connected.

Another failed power-play opportunity, which included a 3-on-1 opportunity without a shot on net, further emphasized this notion.

Penn State was finally able to hit the back of the net, as Laubach fed a slick pass across the crease to find Danny Dzhaniyev for his eighth goal of the season with 6:36 left in the second.

With that goal, the Nittany Lions snapped a 158:02 scoreless drought.

That goal gave the Penn State faithful life and in turn the team life, but they couldn’t capitalize yet again after receiving their fifth power play opportunity of the night.

While the offense still couldn’t click, the defense shored things up after the short-handed goal, holding the maize and yellow shotless over the last 14:36 of the second period.

“There were aspects of the second period that got us back to looking how we normally look,” Gadowsky said. “And it’s a matter of doing that a lot more consistently.”

Penn State started to finally gain traction in the offensive zone to open the third period, which led to a goal from Laubach to make it a two-goal game with 16:04 remaining.

The Nittany Lions would go to the penalty kill immediately after, however, Liam Souliere was up to the task, doing his best Igor Shesterkin impression and robbing the high-powered Wolverines’ power play.

“[Souliere] should have to stop one of those a month, not several in a period,” Gadowsky said. “For some reason, we’re mentally scrambled and I don’t know why.”

Despite the quality saves, the blue and white struggled to get out of their end after cutting the deficit to two goals, with no shots on goal besides the tally through the first 10 minutes of the third period.

A penalty to Tyler Duke with 6:53 remaining gave the Nittany Lions their best chance to get back within one, and while they didn’t score on the man advantage, Jarod Crespo scored with 3:55 left to make it a one-goal game.

A valiant third-period effort from Penn State, but an empty-net goal in the final minute put an end to the comeback, and the blue and white continued to watch their hopes of an NCAA Tournament berth slip away.

Another slow start sealed the deal for the Nittany Lions, something the squad will surely want to fix before puck drop tomorrow.

“Look there’s a lot of things you might want to take from this game,” Gadowsky said. “But it doesn’t matter if you don’t start and we didn’t start.”

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