Notre Dame Hockey: Irish Take Down Penn State Nittany Lions in 3-2 OT Win

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish headed to OT against the Penn State Nittany Lions for the second night in a row Friday, but this time it was the guys in gold and blue who locked in the win. Following Thursday’s 2-1 OT loss to the Nittany Lions, the Irish came back to overpower Penn State 3-2.

First Period

The Nittany Lions edged past a frustrated Irish offense early on, eventually outshooting Notre Dame 9-7 in the first period of play. It was Penn State’s Tyler Gratton who snatched the first point of the game with a little more than five minutes left to play in the first and the period ended 1-0 Penn State.

Second Period

Notre Dame’s Alex Steeves answered early in the second period of play with the first Irish goal of the game and his ninth of the season. Barely even five minutes later, Penn State’s Clayton Phillips headed to the box for tripping, creating the sole power play opportunity of the game, but the Nittany Lions killed the penalty and the Irish failed to capitalize, but the score stood at a tie for the remainder of the second and heading into the third.

Third Period

The Nittany Lions wasted no time responding as the game headed into the third, and Penn State’s Sam Sternschein chalked up a second goal for his team. Not even ten minutes later, Notre Dame’s Colin Theisen reacted with a second goal for the Irish, his fourth of the season, and the tie remained for the rest of regulation to bring it to overtime.

OT

About four minutes into overtime, Notre Dame’s Spencer Stastney found the back of the net to end it 3-2 Irish.

Game Summary

Scoring

Penn State: Tyler Gratton at 14:28 in the 1st, unassisted

Notre Dame: Alex Steeves at 04:06 in the 2nd with assists from Landon Slaggert and Graham Slaggert

Penn State: Sam Sternschein at 01:42 in the 3rd with assists from Tyler Paquette and Bobby Hampton

Notre Dame: Colin Theisen at 11:34 in the 3rd, unassisted

Notre Dame: Spencer Stastney at 04:06 in OT, unassisted

Penalties

Penn State: Clayton Phillips at 09:46 in the 2nd for tripping

Goalies

Notre Dame: Dylan St. Cyr, 33 saves

Penn State: Oskar Autio, 24 saves

Moving Forward

The Fighting Irish are set to take on the Ohio State Buckeyes in Columbus on Friday, February 5 at 4:30 p.m. Catch the game on television on Big Ten Network.

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