Penn State was outplayed by Michigan State in Game 2 of the series suffering a 7-3 defeat.
Sophomore Ryan Kirwan, who has not scored a goal in eight straight games, was scratched for the first time in his career. "Sometimes players need a little reset," head coach Guy Gadowsky said.
Michigan State had a strong start to the first period with Matt Basgall, Jeremy Davidson and Jesse Tucker each tallying a goal in the first nine minutes of the game. After Tucker's goal, Penn State junior goaltender Liam Souliere was pulled and freshman Noah Grannan entered the game.
Penn State cut the Spartans' deficit to two when Christian Sarlo found the back of the net for the third time this season at the 16:33 mark of the first period.
Just two minutes later, Michigan State's Joshua Jagger received a game misconduct giving the Nittany Lions a five-minute power play.
Penn State had been struggling this season on the power play, but it only took Tyler Gratton 30 seconds to score.
Kevin Wall, playing in his 100th career game for the Nittany Lions, tied the game with the second power-play goal of the evening with less than five seconds remaining in the first period.
Gadowsky said, "I felt really good going into this game," Gadowsky said. "I thought things were gonna roll our way."
The second period did not favor the Nittany Lions. Kevin Dorwart scored his first of the evening to give Michigan State a 4-3 lead.
Less than three minutes later, Cole Krygier netted one for the Spartans, giving them a two-goal lead.
With less than two minutes remaining in the second period, Daniel Russell scored, and the Spartans were up 6-3.
The Nittany Lions pulled Noah Grannan with just under five minutes left in regulation in favor of a sixth skater, but Dorwart scored his second of the evening for the Spartans on the empty net and they take the game 7-3.
Penn State is back in Pegula for a non-conference series on Tuesday against Alaska Fairbanks in hopes to get back in the win column.
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