No. 17 Penn State faced conference foe Notre Dame at home in Pegula Ice Arena this past weekend.

The series was as even as it could get as both games went into a shootout to determine who would be awarded the Big Ten point, and each team ended up getting one.

Notre Dame opened up the scoring Saturday night less than two minutes into the game, thanks to Brendan Ali. However, Danny Dzaniyev made sure the Nittany Lions didn’t end the period scoreless and extended his point streak to four games, scoring with just over two minutes left in the first.

The second period came down to special teams, as each team had three minor penalties. As Xander Lamppa headed to the box for his second time on the night, Carter Schade joined him just over a minute later, giving Notre Dame a 5-on-3, and Trevor Janicke capitalized on it just as Lamppa was released for a 2-1 lead. Luckily for the Nittany Lions, Patrick Moynihan couldn’t stay out of the box as he got called for tripping just over six minutes later, and Dylan Lugris quickly evened out the scoring.

After assisting Dzhaniyev and Lugris’ goals, Lamppa himself lit the lamp with just over three minutes to go in the second period to give Penn State a 3-2 lead going into intermission.

Penn State struggled to stay out of the box again in the third period as Reese Laubach headed to the box for cross-checking, and moments later, Chase McLane headed to the sin bin for a questionable faceoff violation. Maddox Fleming capitalized on the 5-on-3 and tied the game at three.

Despite the Irish outshooting Penn State 3-0 in overtime, Noah Grannan stopped all three shots to end the game in a 3-3 tie. Neither team scored in the first two rounds of the shootout for the extra conference point, but Cole Knubble got one through Grannan in round three, and Lugris couldn’t beat Ryan Bischel.

Notre Dame struggled to stay out of the box in Sunday’s contest, recording three penalties in the first period, but Penn State failed to capitalize on those power plays.

The Irish opened the scoring less than five minutes into the second period thanks to senior defenceman Drew Bavaro. Just over four minutes later, Trevor Janicke scored to give Notre Dame a 2-0 lead heading into the second intermission.

Less than two minutes into the third period, the “kid line” consisting of freshmen Aiden Fink, Laubach, and Matt DiMarsico scored to bring the Nittany Lions within one.

Penn State pulled goaltender Liam Souliere for an extra skater, and with 35 seconds left in regulation, Lugris scored off of a rebound to tie the game at two and extend his goal streak to three games for a new career best.

For the second night in a row, the Irish and Nittany Lions headed to overtime. Except this time, Penn State led in shots 4-3, but once again, it was a scoreless five minutes heading to another shootout for the Big Ten point.

The first two rounds of the shootout were scoreless again, but Penn States’ Lamppa scored in round three after Souliere saved Flemings’ shot attempt to take home the extra point.

Notre Dame’s Bischel started both games, recording 76 saves on 81 shots for a .938 save percentage.

Penn State split the net between Grannan and Souliere. Grannan saved 26 shots on 29 shot attempts for a .897 save percentage. Souliere saved 29 shots on 31 shot attempts for a .935 save percentage.

The Nittany Lions will travel to East Lansing next weekend to take on the Michigan State Spartans.