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The Notre Dame Fighting Irish locked in the sweep Saturday in Nittany Lion country. Following Friday’s 4-2 W at Penn State, the Irish powered past an early 3-1 deficit to win it in overtime.
First Period
Irish forward Solag Bakich wasted no time getting after it and got Notre Dame on the board a little under two minutes into the game. A hooking penalty on Notre Dame’s Zach Plucinski about six minutes in wasn’t enough to snap the Irish momentum, but as the period started to reach its halfway point, Nittany Lion Kevin Wall tied it up with Penn State’s first goal of the game. A goal from Penn State’s Jimmy Dowd, Jr. just about five minutes later brought the score to 2-1, Nittany Lions.
Baki-Goal! @Bakich25 collects and fires to get the Irish on the board!
— Notre Dame Hockey (@NDHockey) January 8, 2022
BTN+#GoIrish pic.twitter.com/NxBr4vlNba
As the period neared its end, a five-minute major and a game misconduct on Notre Dame’s Jesse Lansdell for contact to the head provided the penultimate power-play opportunity of the whole game for either team, but the score remained heading into the second. By the end of the first period, the Nittany Lions had just barely outshot the Irish 19-18 and each team had won 10 faceoffs.
Second Period
As the clock ran down on the Irish penalty, Dowd, Jr. found the back of the net for the Nittany Lions not even two minutes into the second for the only power-play goal of the game.
The Irish turned on the jets in the last half of the period. Jack Adams nabbed a second goal for the Irish and Nick Leivermann scored soon after giving Adams an assist. However, it was the Nittany Lions who had the last word as the third period approached. Penn State defenseman Clayton Phillips scored with less than two minutes left to go in the period to bring it to 4-3, Nittany Lions.
Third Period
The teams went through nearly 18 minutes of back and forth until Notre Dame’s Cam Burke scored to tie it up 4-4. This time around, the Irish more than doubled the Nittany Lions’ 12 shots with 27 in the period.
OT
With just 0.2 seconds left in overtime, Notre Dame’s Max Ellis snagged his team’s fifth goal of the night to win it on Penn State ice.
WHAT. A. FINISH.
— Notre Dame Hockey (@NDHockey) January 9, 2022
✅ Pivonka wins the draw
✅ Stastney flies down the ice
✅ Ellis puts it away
✅ IRISH win with 0.2 seconds left in OT!
Unbelievable finish for the weekend sweep!#SCTop10 // #SCTop10 // #SCTop10 #GoIrish pic.twitter.com/6ey6zHxGDx
Game Summary
Scoring
Notre Dame: Solag Bakich at 01:35 in the 1st with assists from Adam Karashik and Cam Burke
Penn State: Kevin Wall at 08:16 in the 1st with assists from Ben Copeland and Christian Berger
Penn State: Jimmy Dowd, Jr. at 13:41 in the 1st with assists from Tyler Paquette and Chase McLane
Penn State: Jimmy Dowd, Jr. at 01:30 in the 2nd with an assist from Ben Schoen
Notre Dame: Jack Adams at at 11:54 in the 2nd with assists from Justin Janicke and Nick Leivermann
Notre Dame: Nick Leivermann at 16:05 in the 2nd, unassisted
Penn State: Clayton Phillips at 18:20 in the 2nd with assists from Ben Copeland and Kevin Wall
Notre Dame: Cam Burke 17:47 in the 3rd with assists from Landon Slaggert and Nick Leivermann
Notre Dame: Max Ellis at 05:00 in OT with assists from Spencer Stastney and Jake Pivonka
Penalties
Notre Dame: Zach Plucinski for hooking at 5:53 in the 1st
Notre Dame: Jesse Lansdell for contact to the head at 17:43 in the 1st, game misconduct
Notre Dame: Ryan Helliwell for roughing at 09:29 in the 2nd
Goalies
Notre Dame: Matthew Galajda, 35 saves
Penn State: Oskar Autio, 34 saves
Moving Forward
The Irish will take on the Ohio State Buckeyes in Columbus on Friday, January 14 at 7:00.
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