Notre Dame 4, No. 5 Penn State 3 (OT): Playing With Fire

Notre Dame upset No. 5 Penn State 4-3 in overtime on Saturday night. The Nittany Lions struggled all weekend defensively and finally got burned on a horrible turnover that easily set up the game-winning goal for Notre Dame. Penn State will return home next weekend for one final regular season series before the postseason run begins.

First Period

After a sloppy first period on Friday night, Penn State came out attacking early and often. Gavin McKenna made a great feed to a wide open Casey Aman in the slot. Aman’s first shot was stopped by Nicolas Kempf, but he picked up his own rebound and fired it home to put the Lions up 1-0 early:

A holding call on Carter Schade sent Notre Dame to the power play. The aggressive Penn State penalty kill held the Irish without a shot on goal, and the game returned to full strength.

Just as Notre Dame started to find their game, Carter Slaggert went to the box for slashing JJ Wiebusch. Luke Misa nearly found Matt DiMarsico for a deflection in front, and Shea Van Olm had a good look at the tail end of the man advantage, but Kempf kept it 1-0 Penn State.

Carter Schade misplayed a breakout pass late in the period that allowed Maddox Fleming plenty of room to wrist home a goal past Kevin Reidler to tie the game at 1. Matt DiMarsico and JJ Wiebusch countered with a 2-on-1 rush after the goal and each had a great chance, but Kempf shut the door.

Jackson Smith took a slashing penalty in the dying seconds of the period. Notre Dame won the faceoff and went to work immediately. Danny Nelson easily put home a rebound with Reidler laying flat in the crease to give Notre Dame a 2-1 lead heading into the locker room.

Second Period

Nick Panayioti was called for kneeing Matt DiMarsico five minutes into the middle frame. Penn State had a chance to tie the game on the power play, but the Fighting Irish killed it off with relative ease. Cole Knuble nearly scored shorthanded when he was left open in front of the net, but Reidler made a huge blocker save.

Penn State’s penalty kill again came up strong midway through the second period, and the Lions created an odd-man rush as the game returned to 5-on-5. After Aiden Fink made a great feed in front of the net, Cade Christenson stuffed the puck home on another second chance opportunity to tie the game at 2:

After matching minor penalties, the ice opened up a bit at 4-on-4. Cole Knuble nearly had a glorious chance in front, but the puck rolled off his stick at the last second. Mac Gadowsky and JJ Wiebusch rushed in 2-on-1 in the final minute of the period, but Gadowsky’s stop was stopped by Kempf and the Nittany Lions could not crash the rebound as the puck slipped through Kempf’s legs. The game went to the intermission tied at 2.

Third Period

Notre Dame rolled up the first five shots of the period and had the Penn State defense on their heels. Kevin Reidler held down the fort to keep the game tied, but the ice was tilting.

With the game at 4-on-4, Danny Nelson ripped the puck past Reidler’s blocker to give Notre Dame a 3-2 lead. Reidler made a massive save on a Notre Dame 3-on-1 to keep the Irish from ballooning the lead, but the game felt like it was slipping away from Penn State.

Penn State started to get some sustained zone time late in the third, and shortly before pulling Reidler for the extra attacker, Luke Misa redirected Mac Gadowsky’s shot from the blue line to tie the game at 3:

Penn State pressured again following Misa’s goal, but the Lions could not secure the game-winner in regulation. The game went to overtime tied at 3 for the second straight night.

Overtime

Notre Dame controlled overtime from the opening faceoff, and poor puck handling by the Nittany Lions set up a 2-on-0 in front of the net for the Irish. Axel Kumlin easily put home the game-winning goal to lift Notre Dame to a 4-3 win.

Scoring Summary

First Period

• PSU: Casey Aman (1)- Gavin McKenna (32), Nic Chin-DeGraves (5)- 5v5- 2:58
• ND: Maddox Fleming (2)- Michael Mastrodomenico (8)- 5v5- 18:10
• ND: Danny Nelson (12)- Evan Werner (14), Sutter Muzzatti (17)- PP- 19:54

Second Period

• PSU: Cade Christenson (3)- Matt DiMarsico (23), Gavin McKenna (33)- 5v5- 13:22

Third Period

• ND: Danny Nelson (13)- Cole Knuble (19), Axel Kumlin (14)- 5v5- 9:17
• PSU: Luke Misa (8)- Mac Gadowsky (14), Aiden Fink (25)- 5v5- 17:45

Shots By Period

• PSU: 9-8-12-0-29
• ND: 7-10-13-3-33

Takeaways

• No Defense- Most of the problems with this team start in the defensive zone. I lost count of how many wide open chances Notre Dame had this weekend. There is way too much pressure on the goaltenders to do all of the defensive work, and it is not sustainable.
• Puck Handling- Turnovers will be the death of this team in the postseason against better skaters. Penn State handed Notre Dame at least five high-quality chances just off puck handling errors.
• Casey Aman- It was great to see Casey Aman finally get in the goal-scoring column this season. He has had to move up to forward for multiple games this season and finally got rewarded for his flexibility in the lineup.
• On To Next Week- Not much Penn State can do other than learn from it and move on. A big series looms next week at home against Wisconsin.

Standings & Such

Penn State is locked into third place in the Big Ten and a home game in the first round of the conference tournament. Minnesota is the most likely opponent, but there is still a remote chance Ohio State slips back to sixth place.

At the time of posting, Penn State remains at No. 5 in the NPI, but pending the results of other games tonight, the Lions could still move down.

What’s Next

Penn State returns home to Pegula Ice Arena for the final regular season series against Wisconsin on Thursday and Friday. Puck drop on Thursday is at 7pm on Big Ten Plus.