EAST LANSING, Mich. – Junior Andrew Sturtz (Buffalo, N.Y.) becomes just the second Nittany Lion in program history to reach the 100-point milestone as he collects a goal and an assist to lead No. 16 Penn State past Michigan State, 3-2, in Big Ten Conference action this evening from Munn Ice Arena to close out the regular season series.
Penn State snaps an eight-game winless streak securing a victory for the first time since January 12 as they improve to 14-13-5 on the year and 7-10-5-2 in Big Ten play. The Spartans fall to 11-19-2 overall and 5-15-2-1 in conference action.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Penn State opened the scoring with a power-play tally as junior Kevin Kerr (Bensalem, Pa.) found classmate Chase Berger (St. Louis, Mo.) just above the right dot and the junior fired a wrist shot far side over the blocker of Michigan State net-minder Ed Minney for the 1-0 lead at 12:38 of the first period. Sturtz picked up the secondary assist with a clean face-off win.
- The Spartans answered just 55 seconds later as Brody Stevens skated in all alone on a breakaway and fired past the glove of PSU sophomore goaltender Peyton Jones (Langhorne, Pa.) for the 1-1 tie at 13:33.
- The Nittany Lions regained the lead as Sturtz skated circles through the Michigan State zone during a 4-on-4 period of play late in the first period and rang a shot from the right circle off the post and in over the glove of Minney for the 2-1 lead at 19:43.
- Penn State extended its lead after a strong play in the corner by sophomore Liam Folkes (Scarborough, Ont.) who won a battle and sent the puck to Kerr at the left point the junior fired a shot that was tipped out front by freshman Alex Limoges (Winchester, Va.) and over the right shoulder of Minney for the 3-1 advantage at 4:58 of the second period.
- Michigan State cut the deficit to a single goal with a power-play tall by Patrick Khodorenko as he finished off a great feed from Mitchell Lewandowski for the 3-2 score at 6:48 of the third period.
NEXT UP
- Penn State returns home to close out the regular season with a weekend series against No. 10 Minnesota next Friday and Saturday.
- Both games will air live on the Big Ten Network with puck drop slated for 6:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. respectively.
- Saturday will serve as senior night as our four senior student-athletes will be recognized in a brief pregame ceremony.