McAdam, Penn State men’s hockey blank Vermont

Eamon McAdam hit another career milestone Sunday afternoon.

It made for a happy homecoming for the Penn State junior goaltender.

McAdam earned his first collegiate shutout in a 4-0 Nittany Lion win over Vermont at Wells Fargo Center in the College Hockey Faceoff.

Dylan Richard scored twice, with one goal each for Chase Berger and Zach Saar, as No. 20 Penn State (9-2-3) extended its unbeaten streak to six games. It also marked the Lions’ first win as a ranked team, after posting an 0-4 record last season while ranked.

The biggest moment belonged to McAdam, a native of Perkasie in Bucks County, just north of Philadelphia. He stopped each of the Catamonts’ 30 shots for the shutout. It was the team’s first since Matthew Skoff blanked Michigan 4-0 on Feb. 8, 2014.

McAdam was forced to make a couple difficult saves late in the third period to keep Vermont (3-9-3) off the scoreboard.

“It was very fitting that it comes in Wells Fargo Center,” coach Guy Gadowsky said. “I thought his play was extremely poised. He made some really big saves look fairly easy early. I think that really set the tone for all of us, not just early, but he made the saves late, too.”

The third-round draft pick of the New York Islanders is now 11-5-1 in his last 17 games. He is leading the Big Ten this season in save percentage (.929), goals-against average (2.15), wins (6) and win percentage (.857). The win percentage also has him tied for seventh in Division I.

Gadowsky thought McAdam’s play set the tone for the rest of the team in front of the 9,213 mostly Penn State-loyal fans on hand.

“When your goaltender’s really poised and focused ... I think it translated well to our team especially in the defensive zone,” Gadowsky said. “We didn’t look frantic. He looked very calm, therefore we looked very calm.”

Saar started the scoring 8:20 into the game, blasting a one-timer on a power play from Luke Juha, right after David Glen won a faceoff back to Kenny Brooks.

Richard netted a power play goal of his own with 2:09 left in the second, set up by a feed from Erik Autio. The Nittany Lions, ranked second in the country in power play conversion percentage (30.4 percent), were 2 for 4 with a man advantage Sunday.

“We weren’t clicking too well 5-on-5, especially in the second period,” Gadowsky said. “To get two power-play goals on specialty teams are huge. When you have (strong) goaltending and specialty teams, usually you’re going to do all right.”

Berger knocked in a rebound early in the third for his ninth goal of the season, tops among the nation’s freshmen and tied for sixth overall. Richard finished the scoring with 32 seconds left in the game, skating through the slot to put away a feed from David Goodwin.

Kenny Brooks had two assists, and Vince Pedrie, Curtis Loik and Kevin Kerr also were credited with helpers. Loik and Brooks each have 10 assists on the season.

Mike Santaguida made 42 saves in the loss as Penn State posted a 46-30 shot advantage.

The Nittany Lions begin Big Ten action next weekend, hosting Michigan State on Friday and Saturday.

This story was originally published November 29, 2015 at 7:48 PM with the headline "McAdam, Penn State men’s hockey blank Vermont."