It took a while for both games of Penn State’s final home series at the Greenberg Ice Pavilion to get going.
The Nittany Lions gave up only one goal during the weekend, when Oklahoma took the lead with just 51 seconds left in the first period on Friday.
Penn State would then go on to score each goal for the rest of the weekend with a 4-1 win on Friday and 3-0 shutout on Saturday.
Friday’s game saw 87 faceoffs contributing to the lack of flow. Lions’ coach Guy Gadowsky hinted at the shorter boards of the Ice Pavilion as a factor.
“Nothing got going,” Gadowsky said. “It was a choppy, choppy game.”
Gadowsky started all five seniors that were in the lineup Saturday and it almost cost them. Forward Michael Longo was on put on the blue line, a position that Longo does not have much experience at.
“He cut it a little bit closer than we like it,” senior defenseman Rich O’Brien said. “The puck happened to go right back into his corner and he didn’t really know what to do with it, but we got out of it pretty quick.”
With 4:08 left in the first period, a glass panel in front of the scorer’s table broke in half. The first intermission began early as result.
The two teams went to their locker rooms while the Zamboni flooded the ice as the glass was repaired. Once the first period was over, the goalies immediately changed sides and began the second period.
However, there wasn’t a goal scored until the third period.
Freshman winger Curtis Loik broke the scoreless tie when connected with freshman defenseman Connor Varley.
Penn State then received a five-minute power play and scored twice in 14 seconds.
At the other end of the ice, freshman goaltender Matt Skoff made 26 saves in the shutout.
