(NOTRE DAME RELEASE)
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — For the second consecutive night, Notre Dame and Penn State needed overtime to decide it but on Saturday the Fighting Irish came out on top when Spencer Stastney found the back of the net with 54 seconds remaining to lift the Irish to a 3-2 win and weekend split at the Pegula Ice Arena.
Alex Steeves and Colin Theisen, who tied the game in the third period, also scored for the Irish, while Dylan St. Cyr made 33 saves to earn the win.
In the Penn State net, Oskar Autio had 24 stops. There was just one penalty in the game, with Notre Dame finishing 0-for-1 on the power play.
How It Happened
St. Cyr was tested early, denying Sam Sternschein with a blocker stop just over four minutes into the contest for one of his best saves of the night.
After Jake Pivonka’s sharp angle chance was saved by the mask of Autio, the Nittany Lions got on the board first at the other end when Tyler Gratton took advantage of an Irish turnover down low and scored his first of the season at 14:28 of the first.
Penn State held the 1-0 lead after the first period, with St. Cyr finishing the frame with eight stops.
Alex Steeves tied things up, 1-1, at 4:06 of the second when he tipped in his own rebound down low after the Slaggert brothers combined to set Steeves up on the doorstep.
St. Cyr flashed his right pad to deny Kevin Wall’s chance from the slot with seven minutes left in the second, keeping the game tied.
Janicke tested Autio high but the junior made a glove stop with 3:21 left in the second before St. Cyr made a few more saves to close out the period.
Penn State retook the lead, 2-1, at 1:42 of the third when Sternschein got the puck alone in front and scored his second of the season.
After good looks by Janicke and Charlie Raith forced Autio into two more saves, Colin Theisen tied things up again, 2-2, at 11:34 of the third when he took the puck down the near boards and went hard to the net and beat Autio to the far post from in tight. It marked his fourth goal of the season and first since scoring a hat trick against Wisconsin on November 14.
With under a minute left in overtime, Spencer Stastney picked up the puck in the defensive zone after a St. Cyr save on Connor MacEachern and skated end-to-end to score the game winner with a deke down low on Autio.
Notes
Tonight’s game was the second game of an eight road games out of 10 swing for the Irish.
Senior Matt Hellickson skated in his 135th-consecutive game, dating back to the first game of his freshman season.
With a goal, Alex Steeves has now recorded at least one point in 13 of Notre Dame’s 18 games and he has a three-game goal scoring streak (3-0-3).
With an assist, Graham Slaggert now has a three-game point streak (0-3-3).
Colin Theisen scored his fourth goal of the season and first since scoring a hat trick against Wisconsin on November 14.
Spencer Stastney scored his first game-winning goal of the season and the second of his career.
Next Up
Notre Dame will be back on the road next weekend when it plays a two-game series at Ohio State on Friday, Feb. 5 (4:30 p.m.) and Saturday, Feb. 6 (1:30 p.m.).
Both games against the Buckeyes will be televised on Big Ten Network (BTN).
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