Men’s Hockey: No. 18 Penn State Defeats No. 17 Notre Dame, 3-2

By Kenny Varner Jr.
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Updated: March 3, 2019

Courtesy of GoPSU Athletics

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Sophomore Evan Barratt (Bristol, Pa.) netted the game-winning goal on the power-play to lead No. 18 Penn State to a 3-2 victory over No. 17 Notre Dame on Saturday evening in Big Ten Conference action from Compton Family Ice Arena.

The Nittany Lions improve to 19-13-2 overall and 11-12-1-1 in the Big Ten with the victory while the Irish fall to 18-13-3 on the year and 11-11-2-2 in conference action.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Penn State opened the scoring for the second-straight night as junior Nikita Pavlychev (Yaroslavl, Russia) sent a nifty backhand from the slot under the blocker of Irish net-minder Cale Morris for the 1-0 lead at 5:14 of the first period.
Notre Dame answered with a 5-on-3 goal as Andrew Peeke sent a one-timer from the left circle past Nittany Lion junior goaltender Peyton Jones (Langhorne, Pa.) for the 1-1 score at 15:26 of the opening frame.
The Nittany Lions regained the lead with an early power-play tally in the second period as sophomore Alex Limoges (Winchester, Va.) popped in a rebound by the far post after junior Liam Folkes’ (Scarborough, Ontario) initial drive out front was turned aside for the 2-1 advantage at 1:49 of the frame.
The Irish once again tied the contest as Pierce Crawford’s shot from the right circle was blocked, but bounced right out front where Cam Burke had the easy finish for the 2-2 score at 13:58 of the second period.
Penn State used another power-play tally to regain the lead yet again as Barratt sniped short-side from the slot for the 3-2 edge at 5:55 of the final frame.

GOALTENDING

Jones was strong in net all night turning aside 38 shots to improve to 15-10-2 on the year while Morris falls to 14-12-2 after a 34 save performance.

NOTES

Notre Dame held the slim 40-37 edge in shots while going 1-for-6 with the man-advantage. Penn State was 2-for-4 on the power-play.
With six total assists in the game, Penn State set a new single-season record for assists breaking its record of 265 set during the 2016-17 campaign as they now have 267 helpers this season.
With a pair of assists Folkes secured his eight multi-point effort this season and the 14th of his career. Senior Kevin Kerr (Bensalem, Pa.) also added a pair of secondary assists to register his third multi-point game this season and the 12th of his career. With 57 career points, Kerr is now just three points shy of the Penn State all-time record by a defenseman while his 49 career assists are just one shy of Erik Autio’s ’18 program record of 50.
The Nittany Lions improve to 13-3-0 when scoring first.

NEXT UP

Penn State will begin the 2019 Big Ten Tournament next weekend in a best-of-three quarterfinal series with opponent and location to be determined following the outcome of the Michigan/Wisconsin game going on now.
The Nittany Lions could either host Michigan or Wisconsin next weekend or travel to Michigan or Minnesota depending on the outcome later tonight.