STATE COLLEGE, Penn. — A night of special teams went in favor of the home Nittany Lions Friday night as the Irish fell on the road, 4-1, to the eighth-ranked Penn State team in game one of the season series. Four powerplay goals were scored in the contest, with the Irish going one-for-five on the man-advantage with Evan Werner netting the lone Irish goal in the contest.
The Irish third line had the first chance of the night for the visiting Notre Dame squad when Cole Brown and Dashel Oliver connected on a series of passes but were stopped at the doorstep by PSU’s Josh Fleming in net.
At the first stoppage of the night, the Irish coaches challenged a previous hit that went uncalled for a potential major. After a lengthy review the no-call was upheld and the Irish bench was charged their timeout.
The Nittany Lions nearly capitalized on a strange bounce off the end glass as their shot went wide and sailed high, nearly touching the rafters before being batted down by an Irish defenseman in the ND crease. After allowing just one rebound attempt by the Nittany Lions, Nicholas Kempf covered the puck and the whistle blew to freeze play.
Penn State looked to have scored at 7:42 after a shot rang off the pipe and toed the goal line but Kempf managed to dive on the puck prior to it crossing the line completely to keep it a scoreless game.
Michael Mastrodomenico nearly had the Irish up 1-0 almost halfway through the opening period but his shot rang off the near pipe and back into play, keeping it 0-0 with 11 minutes to go in the frame.
The Irish penalty kill unit saw its first action of the night at 12:00 of the first frame when Notre Dame was sent to the box for interference. Penn State would capitalize on the man-advantage to take the 1-0 lead just 42 seconds into their powerplay chance.
A Notre Dame skater got tied up in the offensive end late in the period, drawing a hold on the Nittany Lions. Despite a lengthy delayed penalty opportunity skating six-on-five, the Irish were unable to convert and the PSU skater headed to the box. With multiple looks on net during their man-advantage time late in the frame, the Irish could not convert and continued to trail Penn State, 1-0 with under two minutes to play in the period.
A late penalty against the Irish sent them to the box with 68 seconds left in the frame for a high stick. With 30 seconds to go in the frame, Cole Knuble picked up the puck along the halfwall and created an odd-man rush the other way with Danny Nelson and Mastrodomenico but a shot wide would end the period with the Irish trailing by a goal.
The Irish managed to kill off the remainder of that penalty to start the second stanza Friday night. Shortly after the successful kill, the Irish were tasked with killing off a five-minute major after a hit in the offensive end sent an Irish skater to the locker room at 2:35 of the frame. Notre Dame killed off the majority of the penalty but a shot with 42 seconds left on the Penn State man-advantage would beat Kempf in the crease to make it a 2-0 game.
Play continued even aside through the first media break of the period before coincidental would send a skater from either team to the box. Skating four-on-four, the Irish drew an interference call just 20 seconds later to get the powerplay opportunity halfway through the frame. Evan Werner net his team-leading ninth of the season on the powerplay opportunity to draw the Irish within one at 10:19 of the second.
With 6:49 left in the middle frame, Werner was called for slashing and was sent to the penalty box for two minutes. After serving his sentence, the junior forward was caught uncontested out of the box and had a breakaway chance looking to even it up but had the puck picked off his stick at the last second to keep it a 2-1 game.
An Irish penalty late in the frame gave Penn State their third powerplay tally of the night as the Nittany Lions took a 3-1 lead to the locker room through 40 minutes played.
ND started the third on the powerplay for 52 seconds but were unable to capitalize on the man-advantage. The Nittany Lions returned to full strength and called for an official review on an earlier hit in the third period for a potential major. The challenge by the PSU bench was unsuccessful and they lost their timeout.
A delayed penalty against the Nittany Lions saw Danny Nelson and Niko Jovanovic both fire shots on net but they were unable to break the PSU netminder and continued to trail 3-1 through the duration of the hooking call as Henry Nelson rang a shot off the post.
With just over 13 minutes to play, Kempf stood on his head, making a series of clutch saves before Sutter Muzzatti and Axel Kumlin jumped into the crease to cover for the Irish goaltender who was knocked out of the paint while Penn State maintained possession. The Irish managed to clear the puck out of their zone and reset following the sequence as they looked to overcome the two-goal deficit halfway through the final period of regulation.
With under five minutes to play a few extracurriculars after the whistle sent a skater from both teams to the box before a slash on the Nittany Lions gave the Irish the man-advantage opportunity with 4:10 to go in the third. On the powerplay, Evan Werner hit a shot off the post before the PSU netminder dove in front of Danny Nelson’s shot, gloving it down with 3:42 to go in regulation.
The Irish pulled Kempf on the powerplay to give them a six-on-four edge after the initial penalties concluded. A series of posts were the Irish kryptonite as the Nittany Lions sealed the game with an empty net tally at 18:14 for the 4-1 final.
UP NEXT
The Irish close out the road trip with the Nittany Lions Saturday at 8pm. The game is set to air on Big Ten Network.