Penn State Stunned by Michigan 6-0 in Game 1 of Series

Story posted January 18, 2020 in CommRadio, Sports by Logan Bourandas

From the opening faceoff until the final buzzer, the Penn State Nittany Lions were simply outmatched by a desperate Wolverines squad in a 6-0 smackdown Friday night. In what has been a very successful season for Penn State thus far, this loss was arguably the worst that they Nittany Lions have looked all year. This was only the fourth time that Penn State has been on the wrong end of a shutout this season.

Michigan dominated in every point of the game, especially on the attack, as the Wolverines applied pressure on goaltender Peyton Jones the entire night. The Wolverines offense started doing so very early on, getting 19 shots on net in the first period alone. Jones held strong, allowing only two goals through 40 minutes, until the middle of the third period when the floodgates burst open for the Michigan offense. The Wolverines scored three goals in a 2:02 span to officially turn the game into a blowout.

Both Jake Slaker and Johnny Beecher had two goals on the night with the other two coming from the Pastujov brothers.

Penn State head coach Guy Gadowsky kept it brief during his opening statement after the game, stating simply, “We got beat in every way.”

Gadowsky gave credit to the work ethic of the Wolverines for their victorious effort.

“They know you’ve got to come to work every day, and they’re always ready to roll, and they’re never sleeping,” Gadowsky said. “I think we got caught sleeping a little bit, maybe thinking it was going to be a little easier than it was, and that’s just Big Ten hockey.”

Michigan has been one of the best teams in college hockey since the start of the new decade, now with three ranked wins, all of them coming in a row. The Wolverines had convincingly swept another Big Ten powerhouse in Notre Dame before traveling to Happy Valley.

Meanwhile for the Nittany Lions, they came into this matchup hot, returning home with a three-game winning streak with the most recent victory being 6-2 over Robert Morris.

This loss gives Penn State just two wins in their last five conference games with two of those losses being against Michigan.

The Nittany Lions will have a chance to avenge the shutout loss Saturday night for Game 2 of the series. Opening faceoff is set for 6 p.m.

 

Logan Bourandas is a freshman majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email lxb5412@psu.edu.