Penn State men’s hockey finds ‘identity’ in team’s second-straight win over LIU

There was blood in the water in Penn State’s second game against Long Island University, but it wasn’t the Sharks who went into a frenzy.

The Nittany Lions struck early and often Monday at Pegula Ice Arena to secure a 5-2 victory and series sweep over their non-conference competition, moving to 2-0 on the young season.

With seven goals in just two games, Penn State’s offense has shaken off any rust it had coming into its first series of the year.

Sophomore defenseman Christian Berger opened the scoring for the Nittany Lions, picking up his first goal of his two-year career in the blue and white. Xander Lamppa and Jimmy Dowd Jr. assisted the strike.

Lamppa would soon get a score of his own, as the sophomore forward picked up Penn State’s second goal just over two minutes later. The goal was Lamppa’s first of the season and second of his career.

For the second time in two games, the blue and white went into the first intermission with multiple goals under its belt.

And while the season opener didn’t feature much more offense for the Nittany Lions in the second and third periods, Monday’s offensive output stayed potent.

Penn State scored in each of the three periods and tallied 46 total shots, 12 more than in its first matchup with LIU on Sunday.

Guy Gadowsky, the Nittany Lions’ only head coach in the team’s history at the varsity level, saw his team’s latest performance as fitting for the Penn State program.

“It felt more at home, that’s for sure,” Gadowsky said.

The offensive efficacy also played a part in the blue and white’s defensive outing, as the Nittany Lions allowed only 19 shots from the Sharks highlighted by a second period in which the defense allowed only four shots.

Again, the game demonstrated Penn State’s calling cards as the offense and defense played complimentary hockey, according to Gadowsky.

“I thought we played more to our identity,” Gadowsky said. “When you play on the other team’s end, you usually don’t give up a lot of shots.”

LIU got on the board with a power-play goal from Jordan Di Cicco 14:40 into the first period to cut into the Nittany Lion lead and take a 2-1 deficit into the first intermission.

The second period’s scoring started with a strike from Penn State’s Christian Sarlo, who bolted out of the penalty box after a first-period interference penalty carried over into the early moments of the second. Sarlo took an outlet pass from Paul DeNaples to reclaim his team’s two-goal lead.

Sarlo also registered an assist on the prior Lamppa goal to bring his season point total to two.

It wasn’t until 16 minutes later when either team would find the back of the net again, when Penn State freshman forward Danny Dzhaniyev picked up the first goal of his Penn State career.

The 5-foot-4 Dzhaniyev, winding up the classic bow-and-arrow celebration after his career milestone, has already made a good impression on his head coach just two games into his tenure with the Nittany Lions.

“I love how [Dzhaniyev] won pucks. I believe his goal started with him hunting down pucks,” Gadowsky said. “He’s fun to watch, not just his skill — he’s going to score a lot of goals — but I really like how he hunts for pucks.”

Dzhaniyev is part of a new Penn State attacking line that includes him, freshman Ryan Kirwan and sophomore Chase McLane. And although they’re all underclassmen, Dzhaniyev already thinks their chemistry is top notch.

“Leading up to this game, in practice, we were all together and clicked right away,” Dzhaniyev said. “I think we got a good line going, and hopefully we can carry that into next weekend.”

Fifth-year senior Clayton Phillips bookended the Nittany Lion scoring with a close shot just outside of the crease to bring his team’s goal total to five on the day.

And 46 shots later, Penn State got its second win in as many tries — but Phillips still sees room for growth on the offensive side of the rink.

“We’re a team that likes to shoot,” Phillips said. “It was a good starting point, but I think that’s definitely one area that we can continue to grow on.”

The blue and white will next take the ice at 7 p.m. Friday in the opening game of a home series against Canisius.