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STATE COLLEGE, PENN. – A comeback in consecutive nights seemed too good to be true for the Michigan hockey team. But what followed Saturday was still exciting.
After catching up in the third period for the second straight night, the Wolverines, ranked 16th, could not finish the job and dropped 7-6 to No. 5 Penn State.
The scores started quickly on the second night of the series between the teams.
Sophomore defender Quinn Hughes was penalized for getting hooked at 0:38, giving the Nittany Lions a spot on the power play.
And after less than a minute of advantage of a man, striker Evan Barratt gave Penn State a 1-0 lead. Striker Liam Folkes climbed the left wing and climbed to Barratt who was sitting in the slot just outside the faceoff circle on the right. The pair brought first-year keeper Strauss Mann moving from right to left in the crease, and Barratt pushed the puck from his reach to his left.
Two minutes later, the Nittany Lions struck again.
Forward Aarne Talvitie infiltrated the left wing, firing to the opposite side and in the upper right corner of the net in front of the Mann glove to advance to 2-0. With that goal, Penn State had hit the string on their first two strokes of the night. After several important stops on Friday, Mann made his first consecutive starts and showed signs of struggle, while the Michigan defense failed 50-50 pucks in their own defensive zone, resulting in an abundance of goals in advance. opportunities for Nittany Lions. However, Mann remained balanced and made several important saves before the Wolverines took advantage.
Nearly half of the period, junior striker Nick Pastujov scored on a loose puck in front of the crease. The first shot was fired by second-year striker Josh Becker, who broke through the right wing in a pass from first-year defender Nick Blankenburg. Pastujov missed the puck after the Penn State defense was unable to clear it, bringing the score to 2-1.
After Michigan's initial goal, the defense seemed to pick up speed and started winning more pucks in their own zone. While the defense found temporary success, the offense began to control possession of the ball and to obtain more opportunities.
Four minutes after Pastujov cut his lead in half, junior forward Will Lockwood equalized at 2-2. Junior striker Jake Slaker found Lockwood in the left pitching circle. While Lockwood attempted to pass to second-row forward Josh Norris, the puck pushed back the defender's stick arrow and overtook junior goalie Peyton Jones.
The period ended 2-2 with a total of 33 shots for both teams.
In the second half, the defensive intensity continued for the Wolverines. With that came some opportunities for the offensive, but they failed to capitalize.
After two minor penalties on rookie forward Garrett Van Wyhe and defenseman Kevin State, the United States took over the game and the Nittany Lions took over as Barratt headed for the play with the puck, apparently unmarked. and fired in front of Mann.
Four minutes later, Barratt scored again to complete the hat trick and gave Penn State a 4-2 lead before the second intermission. It was the same deficit that Michigan experienced on Friday night.
At the beginning of the third period, the Wolverines opened the scoring as Hughes found Dakota Raabe, a left striker, on the left side of the ice as he placed the puck over Jones and scored from 4-3.
But the Nittany Lions were stubborn, not wanting to reproduce the events of Friday. Just as it looked like Michigan had regained momentum, Penn State again responded to the call and took another two-goal lead.
"(The defense was) just casual," said Michigan coach Mel Pearson. "Do not pick up guys, do not play aggressively at times. We looked confused in our area, each trying to do the work of someone else. Do not trust communication, I mean a few things. "
Then, once again, the Wolverines scored to shoot in the goals on a bypass of Pastujov, before being pushed back to 6-4 at eight minutes from the end.
But the opportunity was again present for Michigan and, for the third time of the period, they scored a goal. The puck found Van Wyhe with time and space in the right slot and shot a shooter in the upper left corner of the net.
"It's crazy," said Pearson. "Two nights in a row, we are 4-2 for the third period and we score the first goal to score 4-3, and it's gone."
Then at 1:05 of the end of the period, Norris fired a shot at the net, and the puck snuck under the crossbar to deflect Lockwood's stick and connect the match at six o'clock and extend the match.
The return came for nothing, however.
The Nittany Lions won the first draw in overtime and fired the puck. Mann was unable to touch the puck and the bounce spit in front of the crease. Striker Sam Sternschein won the race at net and scored, extinguishing the ephemeral joy of returning to Michigan and winning the match for Penn State.
"I've been in this game for 37 years in college hockey and I do not think I've ever seen such a similar ending on an innocent game," said Pearason. "They just pushed forward to the puck, they shot and it goes past Strauss, he can not control the rebound and they beat us up to the puck … so a hard way to lose, especially when we do not score points. points are so critical. We have a lot of work to do, but I liked the resilience shown by our team tonight. "
In a series where both sides presented their offensive firepower, the Wolverines' defense was unable to replicate the performance of the third period which earned them a win on Friday.
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