Minnesota skates away from undermanned Penn State

The Penn State men’s hockey team played shorthanded all night, and the team looked outmanned by the end.

Forced to skate without a full complement of forwards, and losing another during the game, the No. 16 Nittany Lions could not keep up with Minnesota in a 4-1 loss at Mariucci Arena on Friday night.

Hudson Fasching, Taylor Cammarata, Tyler Sheehy and Leon Bristedt had the goals for the Golden Gophers (14-12, 9-2), who moved alone into first place in the Big Ten thanks to Michigan’s loss to Michigan State. Penn State fell nine points behind in third place.

Eric Schierhorn made 31 saves for the win.

Chase Berger netted the lone goal for the Nittany Lions (16-8-3, 6-5), who lost their fourth straight and are still looking for their first win in Minnesota. The team also was outshot 43-32, just the fourth time all season they were beaten in the shot tally. Matthew Skoff stopped 39 shots.

Penn State played with just 11 healthy forwards Friday, forcing the team to shake up lines. Dylan Richard and James Robinson are both sidelined and Andrew Sturtz was serving a one-game suspension from the Big Ten for a hit against Michigan last Saturday. During the game, Curtis Loik went down, leaving the team with just 10 forwards.

The game was tight for the first period and part of the second, but soon it seemed the Nittany Lions were a step behind the Gophers. It didn’t help Penn State was whistled for eight penalties, giving Minnesota six power play chances, though none produced a goal.

“We have to stay out of the box, we have to figure out a way to stay out of the box,” Penn State coach Guy Gadowsky said. “Pretty tough to generate sustained pressure when you’re in the box all night against a team like Minnesota.”

The Gophers jumped ahead just 1:14 into the game when Connor Reilly raced along the boards and dropped the puck back to Fasching at the point for a one-timer over Skoff’s shoulder. It was Fasching’s 16th goal of the season.

“I was really happy to see (Skoff) regroup after the first goal against,” Gadowsky said. “That was a tough one to give up early.”

Berger tied it near the midpoint of the first, flying in to knock in a rebound after an initial try by Derian Hamilton on a slap shot from the point. Berger has a dozen goals on the season.

It looked like the Nittany Lions had the lead about a minute later, when Tommy Olczyk was left wide open in the faceoff circle and teed up a shot. But after a review the officials thought Ricky DeRosa interfered with Schierhorn and waved off the goal.

“It was goaltender interference,” Gadowsky said. “From Ricky DeRosa’s standpoint he was pulled in. He didn’t tackle the goalie, the goalie tackled him — that’s his perspective.”

Seconds after Penn State had killed a penalty, Minnesota took the lead again when Cammarata was able to glide in through the right circles and fire a wrist shot over Skoff’s shoulder to the top corner.

The lead went to 3-1, 8:31 into the second when Cammarata fed the puck to Justin Kloos cutting up the middle, who relayed the puck to Sheehy flying through the slot for the score.

Bristedt closed the scoring six minutes into the third, skating into a wide open space after Vince Pedrie spun around and was hit, dropping to the ice, though no penalty was called.

The teams meet again at 5 p.m. Saturday.

This story was originally published February 5, 2016 at 11:29 PM with the headline "Minnesota skates away from undermanned Penn State."