In a seemingly must-win road series at No. 4 Michigan, Penn State hockey came up just short in both games to leave Ann Arbor, empty-handed.
The Nittany Lions were in desperate need of a conference win after dropping four of its last five Big Ten games, including three road losses in their last four games.
Things didn’t get easier against a top-5 opponent in Michigan, but Penn State gave it all they had in both games, nearly overcoming a 3-0 deficit in Friday’s game and leading 3-1 at one point on Saturday.
Michigan (18-6-1, 9-5-0 Big Ten) took advantage of a five-minute power play at the end of the first period after Ben Schoen was handed a game misconduct penalty and an ejection for contact to the head.
The Wolverines went on to score two goals in the last 90 seconds of the period after already scoring one within the first six minutes of play to take a commanding 3-0 lead after the first period.
It would take until the third period for Penn State (12-12-0, 3-11-0 Big Ten) to answer, and they did in a big way, with two goals in the first five minutes of the period from Tyler Paquette and Kevin Wall.
However, that comeback would end a goal short as Michigan won, 3-2.
Saturday was a much different story despite Michigan striking first on a short-handed goal in the second period. The Nittany Lions followed with three-straight goals from Ben Copeland, Christian Sarlo and Tyler Gratton, taking a 3-1 lead with just under five minutes left in the second.
Michigan wouldn’t let that two-goal lead stay intact, scoring a goal with under two minutes left in the period as Penn State took a 3-2 lead into the third.
The Wolverines quickly tied the score, netting a goal not even a minute into the third and eight minutes later, scored the eventual game-winner to win, 4-3.
Conference play resumes this coming weekend as Penn State welcomes Wisconsin to Pegula Ice Arena. The Nittany Lions split a weekend pair with the Badgers in December.
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