No. 5 Penn State 3, Notre Dame 3 (SO): Survive and Advance

No. 5 Penn State trailed 3-0 in the first period, but two goals from Aiden Fink and a heroics from Josh Fleming tied the game at 3-3. The Nittany Lions won the extra point in the shootout to finish no worse than third in the Big Ten Conference.

Issue 1

Notre Dame controlled possession early in the game and drew first blood when Dashel Oliver deflected Henry Nelson’s pass past Josh Fleming.

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Midway through the game, Ben Schoen took a tripping penalty, putting Notre Dame’s dangerous power play on the ice. Soon after, Jarrod Crespo hit another tripping penalty to give the Irish the lead with just over a minute in the five-on-three contest. Penn State didn’t allow a shot while knocking down two skaters, cleared the zone twice and ultimately eliminated the remaining penalty kicks.

Notre Dame scored two goals in 30 seconds to beat Penn State in a flash. William Belle broke through unassisted and scored the first goal, making the score 2-0. Danny Nelson burst into the offensive zone and hit a cross-ice pass to an open Cole Knuble, who easily tied the game at 3-0.

Penn State started to tilt the ice a little toward the end of the period. Mike Gadowski forced a turnover near the blue line and hit the puck toward an open Shea Van Orm. SVO put its home blocker Nicolas Kempf high over the top to put the Lions on the board:

At the first intermission, Notre Dame led 3-1.

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Second issue

Penn State was on the trail for much of the first half as Notre Dame continued to smother the Lions with their offense. The Nittany Lions put up a power play midway through the period, but Penn State couldn’t get anything going with the man advantage except for Aiden Funk’s wrist shot that hit the crossbar.

Casey Aman made a big save after Alex Kumlin’s shot hit the post during a 4-on-4 match. Moments later, Aiden Fink’s nifty wrist shot past Kempf cut Notre Dame’s lead to 3-2 at the end of the second quarter:

The third issue

Aiden Fink made a great individual play when he forced a fumble near the Notre Dame blue line, leading to a two-on-one rush with Ben Schoen. Funk elected to shoot, and his wrist shot beat Kempf to tie the game at 3:

Penn State’s defense was hot for most of the third quarter, and Josh Fleming needed to make some big saves to keep the game tied. Notre Dame applied pressure in the final seconds, but the game went into overtime, tied at 3.

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over time

The 3-on-3 overtime was as intense as ever, but neither team could capitalize. Aiden Fink hit the post late on but the game went to penalties. The Nittany Lions outshot Notre Dame 7-0 in overtime but couldn’t get past Kempf.

Gavin McKenna scored the only goal of the shootout to earn the extra point for Penn State.

Rating summary

Issue 1

• N.D.: Dasher Oliver(2)- Henry Nelson(9)- 5v5- 5:02

• N.D.: William Bell(1)- Unassisted – 5v5 – 13:54

• N.D.: Cole Noble(8)- Danny Nelson(14), Brennan Ali(7)- 5v5- 14:22

• power supply: Shay Van Orm(7)- Mike Gadowski(18)- 5v5- 18:34

Second issue

• power supply: Aiden Funk(7)- Gavin McKenna(31), Mike Gadowski(14)- 4v4- 19:04

The third issue

• power supply: Aiden Funk(8)- Unassisted – 5v5 – 5:23

Shots by period

Main points

• slow start – Penn State has a -12 goal differential in its first game of the season and falls 3-0 tonight. They got away with it for most of the regular season, but they can’t afford to fall behind 3-0 in the NCAA tournament against better teams.

• Josh Fleming – It was a rough start for the freshman goaltender, but Fleming made a series of big saves to stop Notre Dame in this one.

• front and center – Penn State really showed its lack of depth under center in this one. Notre Dame controlled the faceoff circle and outplayed the Lions all night long.

• Jackson Smith – In another concerning development, Jackson Smith was not on the bench during the third quarter. The number of injuries on this team is devastating. Hopefully he’ll be back tomorrow, but it seems like every injured player has missed multiple games this year.

• blueprint- Penn State has struggled all season against teams that use heavy forechecking and dominate the neutral zone. Some of that is due to injuries, but there’s a blueprint for beating a Penn State team that will come back to bite this team in the NCAA Tournament if they can’t adjust.

• Braden Ford – It’s great to see Brayden Ford back in the lineup after a long absence. One less injury we have to worry about.

Standings, etc.

Penn State ranks no lower than third among the Big Ten universities. The only way to finish second is to win the remaining three games of the regular season. Currently, the Nittany Lions are focusing on their first-round game against Minnesota on March 11 at Pegula Ice Arena.

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As of press time, Penn State remains ranked fifth in the NPI. Losses to Providence and Quinnipiac helped the Nittany Lions avoid falling.

what’s next

The two teams will meet again tomorrow night at Compton Family Ice Arena. Puck drop is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Peacock.