STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – For the second night in a row, Notre Dame and Penn State hockey ended officially in a tie and was decided in a shootout, with the Irish ultimately falling in three rounds.
The Irish faced three penalty kills in the opening period of play but successfully shutdown each PSU opportunity to remain scoreless through the first 20 minutes.
At the last line of defense, Ryan Bischel turned aside all 20 shots faced in the first period while the Irish fired just eight shots on net at the other end, including a breakout chance from Justin Janicke as he jumped back on the ice after serving his penalty.
Drew Bavaro got the scoring going at 4:52 of the second stanza, finding the back of the net with a shot from the top of the slot to break the stalemate.
The Nittany Lions thought they got one back minutes later as the lights went off and the horn sounded but the official waved it off immediately as Bischel’s mask had come undone on the play and the puck was whistled dead.
Moments later, amidst a ringing of “boo”s throughout the arena, Trevor Janicke silenced the crowd with a wrister in the slot for the 2-0 lead.
The Irish saw their first powerplay opportunity of the night at the 19-minute mark but were unable to score on the man-advantage before the clock wound down on the second period and they took the 2-0 lead to the locker room to prepare for the final frame.
The Nittany Lions cut the Irish lead in half at 1:42 of the third period. A Notre Dame challenge for offsides on the play was unsuccessful meanwhile, Penn State challenged for a major penalty that left one of their skaters slow to get up. The home challenge was also denied and both teams were charged with their timeouts before the puck was dropped again.
The two teams continued to battle for the remainder of the contest, with the Nittany Lions ultimately opting for the extra attacker with 90 seconds to go in regulation.
The Irish defense came up with a plethora of blocks with the empty net staring them down but were unable to clear the puck the length of the ice and PSU eventually evened the tally with 35.7 seconds to force the overtime session.
Neither team was able to capitalize in the three-on-three overtime and the Irish met the Nittany Lions at center ice for their second consecutive shootout.
Reminiscent of Saturday’s shootout, the netminders on both ends of the ice kept the shooters off the board through two rounds but Sunday it was the Nittany Lions that would score in the third round to clinch the extra point.
GOALS
- A pair of Irish attackers battled for the puck along the boards behind the net, eventually working the puck free and up to the halfwall for Paul Fischer who found an open Drew Bavaro at the blueline. The senior defenseman took two strides before ripping his shot off and into the back of the net. Danny Nelson, who won the puck deep in the zone, was credited with the second assist on the goal.
- Michael Mastrodomenico fired a cross-ice pass to Justin Janicke in the neutral zone who skated into the Nittany Lions end before feeding the puck over to his brother, Trevor, who fired a wrister into the net for the 2-0 tally at 8:54 of the second period.
KEY STATS
- Ryan Bischel cast aside 47 of 49 shots faced in game two of the series at Penn State for a season high and .959 percentage in the crease to close out the road series.
- Six individuals highlighted the box score Sunday night, including goals from a pair of veteran leaders on the team in Drew Bavaro and Trevor Janicke.
- The Irish finished with 31 shots in the contest while blocking 18 shots before they reached the paint.
UP NEXT
The Irish return home to Compton Family Ice Arena next Friday and Saturday, November 10-11, for a pair of tilts against Big Ten foe Ohio State.
Puck drop on Friday night is set for 7:35 p.m. followed by a 6 p.m. start Saturday.