No. 12 Penn State men’s hockey extended its unbeaten streak to eight games Friday night in Pegula Ice Arena with a 6-3 win over Alaska-Anchorage. This matchup included David Goodwin’s 100th point, a top-shelf beauty from Vince Pedrie, and penalty woes.
How It Happened
Other than a puck flying into the press box via Denis Smirnov and nearly hitting a reporter, the first half of period one was a dull affair. (If you’re reading this Smirnov, I forgive you.) With 7:11 left, Penn State had only four shots and UAA had two. The Nittany Lions seemed off and a little disconnected. That would change aggressively a few minutes later when Penn State went on the power play and Chase Berger finally made something happen at 13:51. The sophomore got the puck from Trevor Hamilton and David Goodwin, and the Roar Zone went wild — Goodwin became the first Nittany Lion to reach 100 points in program history.
Momentum didn’t let up as less than a minute later Kris Myllari netted his first career goal from the point at 14:51 to make it 2-0. Berger struck again with less than two minutes to go in the period — he deflected a rocket from Pedrie and it was pretty fun. See for yourself:
GOAL NUMBER THREE BY @chaseberger10 pic.twitter.com/LtY6vHVUXF
— The Roar Zone (@TheRoarZone) November 12, 2016
The first closed with Penn State leading 3-0 on the board and 11-4 in shots.
Penn State killed off a power play in a more energized start to the second. A few good chances off the bat never came to fruition. Nate Sucese had a speedy near-breakaway and an ensuing penalty shot mid-period, but he couldn’t get it past Olivier Mantha. It felt like a reversed version of the previous period, and things slowed down on the offensive front.
On the other side of the ice, Peyton Jones quietly made a few important saves to hold the Seawolves scoreless. Mantha and UAA’s defense did the same, and the period almost ended as it started.
Enter Vince Pedrie.
The defenseman finessed the puck up top via power play to put Penn State up 4-0 with 11.8 seconds left in the second.
Penn State came out swinging in the third. Mantha thwarted an early Kerr chance point-blank and several others through the first two minutes. The flurry of chances didn’t last too long — UAA finally got on the board with a power play goal 3:39 into the third. Ricky DeRosa quickly answered with his backhand at 4:30, and it was 5-1 Penn State through the first five minutes of the period.
Matching penalties with 13:00 left to play provided some ever-interesting 4-on-4 hockey, but nothing eventful came of it. A scrum in front of Alaska’s net nearly resulted in a Penn State goal halfway through the period, but the puck flew in just about every direction. Soon after, Alaska netted a power play goal at 9:59 to make it 5-2 despite Jones’ best efforts.
The Pegula crowd was not happy when Penn State headed to the 5-on-3 disadvantage at 13:20 — Zach Saar headed to the box for a 10-minute misconduct and Nikita Pavlychev joined him for a two-minute roughing call. But all was well for Penn State when Pavlychev’s time ran out –Myllari scored his second of the game (and the season) and Penn State went up 6-2 with 4:18 left to play. In the midst of a Sweet Caroline singalong, UAA scored one more to make it 6-3 with seconds left to play.
Takeaways
- Penn State’s depth has improved this season. There are still some standouts (in terms of points) like Andrew Sturtz, Goodwin, and Smirnov, of course, but anyone on any line could come up with a big play and I wouldn’t be surprised.
- Something seemed a bit off in brief parts of the first and second periods, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. The important thing here was that Penn State’s “a little off” didn’t cost it the game. Gadowsky has been harping on reducing penalties, though, and both of UAA’s goals were on the power play.
- I like that Goodwin genuinely doesn’t seem to care about his 100 point record. He’s just here to play hockey.
- I’m considering wearing a helmet to the next game. No one’s safe out here.
What’s Next
Penn State and Alaska-Anchorage square off in Pegula again Saturday night at 7 p.m. to finish their series.
