Penn State hockey secured a series sweep over Niagara and a third-straight win overall with a 6-2 victory Friday night at Pegula Ice Arena.

The Nittany Lions (5-1) didn't play their best hockey, but found the back of the net six times thanks to a hat trick from Kevin Wall to overcome some early struggles against the Purple Eagles (0-4).

Penn State started extremely slowly in this game, with the Purple Eagles creating several great opportunities early. When key Nittany Lion forward Connor McMenamin was ejected for hitting from behind eight minutes in, granting a five-minute power play to the visitors, it seemed disaster had struck. But Tyler Paquette turned the game on its head, ripping a shorthanded wrist shot off the crossbar to give Penn State the lead against the run of play. The Nittany Lions killed off the penalty, and padded their lead from there.

"It's nice to see him score a shorty, because he's been doing a really good job on the penalty kill, as well as his partner Carson Dyck," Penn State coach Guy Gadowsky said. "It's nice to see them get rewarded offensively."

Before Penn State's scoring outburst in the third period, this one was on pace to become one of the ugliest games that has ever taken place inside Pegula Ice Arena. The Nittany Lions took seven penalties, including that game misconduct on McMenamin. It forced them to lean heavily on their penalty kill, which proved up to the challenge. Penn State killed all six of Niagara's power-play opportunities, with plenty of help from goalie Liam Souliere, who saved 32 of the 34 shots sent his way by the Purple Eagles in his second start of the season. Penn State credited its preparation for its success. The Purple Eagles adjusted from a 2-3 look to an umbrella formation on their power play midway through the game, and Penn State didn't miss a beat.

"I do think our best penalty killer was Souliere, for sure," Gadowsky said. "It doesn't matter what you do. If your goaltender isn't your top penalty killer, you're not going to have good stats. However, I thought that we adjusted really well to their two looks. Sometimes that's caused us trouble."

Kevin Wall had himself a series, completing his hat trick with a third-period penalty shot on Friday and scoring five goals throughout the two games to give him six in six games for the season.

"Wall did a lot of really good, smart, team things, especially in the third period, winning battles and playing hard," Gadowsky said. "it's nice to see guys that do team things get rewarded."

PSU (SHG) — Tyler Paquette (1) from Carson Dyck (2) and Clayton Phillips (1), 9:44 first period

PSU (PPG) — Kevin Wall (4) from Clayton Phillips (2) and Ben Copeland (3), 14:39 first period

NIA — Albin Nilsson (1) unassisted, 18:06 first period

PSU — Ryan Kirwan (2) unassisted, 4:58 second period

NIA — Walker Sommer (1) from Zac Herrmann (1) and Jesse Pomeroy (1), 7:17 third period

PSU — Kevin Wall (5) from Paul DeNaples (3), 13:18 third period

PSU (PEN) — Kevin Wall (6) unassisted, 17:28 third period

PSU (ENG) — Tyler Paquette (2) from Carson Dyck (3) and Christian Berger (4), 17:56 third period

The Nittany Lions face their toughest test of the season thus far next Saturday, when they take on No. 6 North Dakota in Nashville.

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