Penn State hockey stumbles against Ohio State

The Penn State men’s hockey team was stuck in a hole early and never recovered.

Ohio State scored just 3 minutes, 30 seconds into the game and controlled almost the entire contest for a 5-1 victory over the No. 14 Nittany Lions on Saturday night at Value City Arena.

Eric Scheid netted the lone goal for Penn State (16-5-3, 6-2) and Eamon McAdam made 25 saves in just his second loss since Oct. 30.

Craig Dalrymple, Nick Schilkey, Miguel Fidler, Mason Jobst and Dakota Joshua all scored for the Buckeyes (7-13-2, 2-4-2-1), with 33 saves for Christian Frey.

“This is the Big Ten,” Gadowsky told the media in Columbus. “It’s going to be difficult to sweep anywhere. If we want to expect to do that, we’ve got to get a little better.”

Special teams were a big issue for the Nittany Lions, who didn’t score on two power play chances, including a five-minute major, while the Buckeyes netted a shorthanded goal and scored on its lone chance with a man advantage.

Ohio State put on the pressure early, with a 2-on-none break that was denied by McAdam, but seconds later Dalrymple fired the puck from the faceoff circle past the junior goalie to open the scoring.

Schilkey pounced on a long pass from deep in the Penn State end when the Nittany Lions were trying to restart a power play. The junior raced in after picking off the pass and scored the sixth shorthanded goal against Penn State this season 11:33 into the second.

Fidler widened the margin five minutes later, banging in a rebound for his first goal of the season.

Penn State finally got on the scoreboard just over a minute into the third period, taking a feed from Alec Marsh on a rush up the ice and flicking the puck from the slot off the post, then off Frey’s back and into the net.

With momentum seemingly on their side, the Nittany Lions had a chance to cut into the lead some more just seconds later when a check to the head for a five-minute major and game misconduct on Josh Healey gave Penn State a huge opportunity, but the team hardly generated any chances during the stretch and could not cash in.

“We didn’t get much going,” Gadowsky said. “They had a great penalty kill. Sometimes they talk about major penalties. Obviously, you score, that’s a major momentum boost for you, but if the opponent kills it off, they can use that as a momentum boost.”

A few minutes later Ohio State had a power play with Jobst cashing in to essentially decide the game, and with McAdam pulled for an extra attacker in a desperation move, Joshua hit the empty net with 4:37 left.

Notes: Penn State returns home for one game next week, hosting No. 6 Michigan on Thursday at Pegula Ice Arena. The teams will then meet again Saturday at New York’s Madison Square Garden. ... Curtis Loik sat out Saturday’s game, missing his first game of the season and ending a string of 71 straight games played, the longest active streak on the team. Tommy Olczyk takes over at 52 straight games. ... Ohio State dominated on the faceoff for a second straight night, with a 36-21 record in draws.

This story was originally published January 23, 2016 at 9:30 PM with the headline "Penn State hockey stumbles against Ohio State."