Penn State men’s hockey rallies to beat Ohio State, 3-2, in Big Ten opener

JJ Wiebusch became the first Division I men’s hockey player to score 10 goals this season and Penn State extended its streak of scoring on the power play to all nine games this season during a come-from-behind, 3-2 victory over Ohio State in Columbus Thursday night.

The game was the Big Ten Conference opener for both teams and the start of a two-game series that concludes at 6:30 p.m. Friday.

Seventeenth-ranked OSU scored the game’s first two goals on its first two shots and outshot No. 4 Penn State, 15-7, during the first period. Broten Sabo scored at 1:19 of the first period and Riley Thompson added a power-play goal at 4:12 to give the host team its early lead.

After that, Penn State (8-1, 1-0 Big Ten) controlled the game, at least on the scoreboard, and goalie Kevin Reidler stopped the final 28 shots he faced.

Both teams had a goal waved off, and Penn State got its power-play goal when Wiebusch scored on an assist from Gavin McKenna at 14:13 of the second period.

Dane Dowiak knotted the score at two early in the third period and Luke Misa netted the go-ahead goal — the first of his career at Penn State — at 11:51 of the third.

For the game, Penn State outshot OSU, 37-30.

It was the fourth time this season Penn State had trailed 2-0 and eventually won. Penn State is outscoring opponents 17-4 in the third period this season.

Still, penalties were a challenge for Penn State. The Nittany Lions pushed their nation’s-leading total to 209 penalty minutes. Ohio State (4-3, 0-1) had seven power-play opportunities.

After Aiden Fink sustained a big hit early in the third period, Penn State played without him for the rest of the game.