No. 11 Penn State rallies to beat Michigan State hockey
EAST LANSING - A power-play goal with 4:33 to play in the third period snapped a 2-2 tie and helped push No. 11 Penn State past Michigan State, 4-2, on Friday night at Munn Ice Arena. The goal was the second of three in a row in the period for Penn State as they erased a 2-1 Spartan lead.
Playing in their final weekend of home games at Munn, seniors Joe Cox and Rhett Holland scored for the Spartans.
Penn State (19-8-2, 8-6-1) got the only goal of a fast-paced first period, as Alec Marsh scored 3:14 into the opening stanza.
Andrew Sturtz collected the puck behind the net and fed it to Marsh in front, who made a move to his right and slid the puck past goaltender John Lethemon.
The Spartans (6-20-3, 2-11-2) didn’t let the deficit linger for long in the second as Cox capitalized on a turnover on the first shift and made it 1-1, 18 seconds into the period.
Cox picked up the loose puck in the neutral zone and made a move at the blue line to elude a Nittany Lion defender. He then let a perfectly placed snap shot go that beat Peyton Jones over the glove hand into the top corner of the net.
MSU was tested later on in the second period with consecutive Penn State power plays, but the Spartans responded soundly, extinguishing both opportunities without much of a threat.
Lethemon made a handful of quality saves in the period, including stopping Denis Smirnov on a semi-breakaway with five minutes to play in the stanza.
With the game still deadlocked past the midway point of the third, the Spartans claimed their first lead of the night on a tic-tac-toe play that Holland finished off perfectly.
Thomas Ebbing pushed the puck into the PSU zone and while falling to the ice near the board on the left side, he swept the puck to Taro Hirose at the bottom of the left circle. Hirose made a backhand pass to Holland in the slot, who snapped the puck past Jones for his second goal in the last four games.
Unfortunately, the lead lasted just 13 seconds as Penn State quickly got the puck into the MSU end on the ensuing faceoff and Chase Berger batted a rebound in to make it 2-2.
The eventual game-winning goal came with 4:33 to play with Penn State on the power play as Dylan Richard chipped at a loose puck and got it over Lethemon from the side of the crease.
The Spartans had a pair of power plays following the go-ahead goal and pulled Lethemon for the extra skater with 1:30 to play, but David Goodwin’s empty-netter with 30 seconds remaining erased any comeback hopes.
PSU finished with a 39-28 edge in shots on goal.
The two teams will meet again on Saturday at 7 p.m. The Spartans will honor their eight seniors in a ceremony following the game.
- MSU Athletic Communications