Penn State skates to tie in Alaska

It took a while to get rolling, but the Penn State men’s hockey team did just enough late Saturday night.

Luke Juha scored the tying goal in the third period, helping the Nittany Lions to a 1-1 tie with Alaska-Anchorage at Sullivan Arena after the teams played through a scoreless five-minute overtime period.

Penn State (7-2-3), which entered the night having won three straight, finished with a win and tie on the long trip to the 49th state.

Matthew Skoff was solid in goal, making 20 saves and only allowing a first-period goal to Mason Mitchell.

Olivier Mantha was stellar at the other end, making 36 saves for the Seawolves (6-4-2).

Penn State entered the weekend sporting one of the nation’s top offenses, but struggled Saturday night. The team was averaging 4.4 goals per game, which was third in the nation, and 47.1 shots per game, by far best in Division I. However, it took until the third period before Penn State was really generating chances, registering half its shots over the third and overtime.

The Nittany Lions finished with a 37-21 lead in shots, with 19 of those Nittany Lion shots over the final 25 minutes.

Mitchell scored his goal just 2:23 into the game — on the Seawolves’ first shot on goal. He took a feed from Blake Leask up the right wing and beating Skoff. The senior goalie then denied every Anchorage attempt the rest of the night.

After struggling to beat Mantha, Penn State finally cashed in during the waning seconds of a five-minute major penalty, when David Glen from behind the net found David Goodwin along the boards, setting up a blast from Juha in the high slot 6:31 into the third period.

It was the seventh power-play goal in the career of the Nittany Lion senior defenseman.

Notes: Penn State gets a few extra days off, not playing again until next Sunday at Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center against Vermont. ... The Nittany Lions had scored shorthanded goals in each of the previous three games. ... The Seawolves didn’t have a shot on goal in the first 19 minutes of the second period, then had three in the final minute. Penn State had just seven shots in the frame. Both numbers were season-lows for the Nittany Lions on offense and defense this season. ... Vince Pedrie and David Glen both hit posts with shots Saturday, following three shots hitting posts Friday. ... The Nittany Lions have killed 12 straight power plays for opponents. Penn State had three power plays, converting on the one, while UAA was 0 for 4 with a man advantage.

This story was originally published November 22, 2015 at 11:23 PM with the headline "Penn State skates to tie in Alaska."