It’s been a rough go of things in the Big Ten for Penn State’s men’s ice hockey team so far, coming into Saturday night’s back end of a weekend set at Wisconsin with a 2-7 conference record.
The Nittany Lions had lost two straight after winning four of their previous five, including a road split at then-No. 7 Minnesota.
Luckily, the tides turned and Penn State was able to salvage the final game before the Christmas break, a wild 5-4 overtime win in Madison.
Five different Penn State (11-8, 3-7 Big Ten) players scored in the win, including Paul DeNaples’ overtime winner scored at 1:41 into the extra session.
Danny Dzhaniyev led all Nittany Lions players with three points in the win, a goal and two assists for the freshman forward.
Freshman forward Ryan Kirwan also had two assists, one of four players with multi-point games. The other two were Ben Schoen and Connor MacEachern, who had a goal and an assist each.
Penn State had a 4-1 lead heading into the third period when Wisconsin stormed back to tie the game, scoring the equalizer with just 39.3 seconds left in regulation.
The Badgers were 2-for-5 on the power play while the Nittany Lions failed to score during their two power plays on the night.
Despite the overtime victory, Penn State dominated the face-off circle and shot departments, winning 65.6 percent of face-offs and out-shooting Wisconsin, 47-20.
They’ll return to the ice on Dec. 31 to take on Maine in a back-to-back home series at Pegula Ice Arena.
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