Penn State wins New Years Eve showdown 3-1 against RIT

Penn State was back in action at Pegula Ice Arena on New Years Eve following its winter break and an away game in New York the previous night. The Nittany Lions completed the sweep of the No. 20 RIT Tigers with a 3-1 win on Saturday. This marked the first time in program history that Penn State won all 10 of its out of conference games.

The first period started off with a Nittany Lions’ power play at the 4:42 mark as RIT was called for slashing. Penn State was able to get off four shots before Xander Lamppa was called for slashing and ended the man-advantage prematurely. This was followed by a goal at 13:10 scored by Chase McLane and assisted by Simon Mack and Dylan Gratton.

This was McLane’s first goal of the season and would be the only goal for either sides during the period.

There was not much action in the beginning of the second period. Both sides shot the puck well, but weren’t able to cash in until Alex Servagno extended the Penn State lead to 2-0. This was Servagno’s first career goal and it was assisted by Christian Sarlo and Paul DeNaples, who set a new school record for most consecutive games played with 155.

Sarlo would get a game misconduct for hitting from behind at 16:56 that sent the Tigers to the 5-minute man advantage to end the period.

The third period started with the Nittany Lions short-handed due to the remains of the Sarlo major. About 50 seconds later, RIT was called for tripping which sent Penn State right back to the power play.

The Nittany Lions would only be able to get off one shot before RIT got the kill. At 14:54 RIT was called for roughing sending Penn State to the man advantage, but the Tigers would be able to score a shorthanded goal to put them at a 2-1 deficit.

With just under two minutes remaining in the final period, The Tigers emptied the net and Connor McMenamin, assisted by Kevin Wall, was able to capitalize on the opportunity to give Penn State a two goal lead with 1:05 left to play sealing the victory.

The Nittany Lions will face Big Ten opponents from here on out, starting with No. 11 Michigan State on Jan. 13 in East Lansing.