UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Cruz Lucius and Mathieu De St. Phalle each tallied a pair of goals and Kyle McClellan posted his seventh shutout of the season as the No. 6 Wisconsin men's hockey team shut down Penn State, 6-0, on Friday night at Pegula Ice Arena.
Wisconsin (23-8-2, 14-6-1 Big Ten) scored two goals in every period, including two on the power play, en route to its 6-0 victory. Senior goaltender McClellan had a perfect performance between the pipes, stopping all 27 of Penn State's (13-15-3, 5-13-3 Big Ten) shots on goal. With tonight's win, UW cliched a top-two conference finish and climbed to within one point of first place with three games remaining in the regular season.
The Badgers got on the board first 6:11 into the first period. Freshman defenseman Joe Palodichuk passed from deep in the Badgers zone to freshman forward William Whitelaw near UW's blue line. Whitelaw then sauced a cross-ice pass up to sophomore forward Simon Tassy in the neutral zone. Tassy rushed into Penn State territory before having it poked away by a PSU player. Whitelaw, who followed Tassy into the zone, picked up the loose puck and fired a shot home for his ninth goal of the season.
Sophomore forward
Cruz Lucius doubled Wisconsin's lead on the power play 10:18 into the opening frame. PSU tried to clear the puck out of its defensive zone, but sophomore defenseman
Ben Dexheimer battled with a player to gain possession. He then skated toward the left side of the net before passing across the zone to Lucius, who beat Nittany Lion goaltender Liam Souliere glove side to make it 2-0, Badgers.
Wisconsin added a third goal 5:02 into the second period. From the left side of the Penn State zone, freshman defenseman
Zach Schulz sent the puck behind the net, which was stopped by Lucius and then picked up by senior forward
David Silye. Silye passed to his right to meet senior forward
Mathieu De St. Phalle in the middle of the left circle, who let a shot fly for his ninth goal of the season.
Four minutes later,
Cruz Lucius scored his second power-play goal of the evening.
David Silye won a face-off in Penn State's zone and passed backward to
Ben Dexheimer at the top of the right circle. Dexheimer sent the puck across the ice to Lucius, who lit the lamp on a hard one-time shot.
Mathieu De St. Phalle tallied his second goal of the contest with 13:35 left in the third period.
David Silye sent the puck to the right side boards, and it rebounded onto the stick of junior defenseman
Daniel Laatsch. Laatsch skated to the right side of the net and gave a short pass in front of the goal to De St. Phalle who one-timed it into the back of the net.
With nine minutes left in the contest, senior forward
Carson Bantle scored the Badgers' sixth goal of the evening.
Wisconsin went 2-for-6 on the power play and 4-for-4 on the penalty kill. UW finished the contest with a 31-27 advantage in shots on goal.
Notes to know:
- With tonight's victory, UW clinched a top-two conference finish
-
Kyle McClellan's 21 wins are the most since Joel Rumpel had 21 in the 2013-14 season
- McClellan's seven shutouts this season rank second in UW history behind Brian Elliott's eight in 2005-06
- The Badgers' shutout over Penn State marked its second ever and first since the teams' first meeting on Feb. 24, 2013, a 5-0 victory in Madison
- The Badgers are 16-1-1 when scoring on the power play
- UW is 15-0-0 when scoring four or more goals in a contest
- With 45 Big Ten points, the Badgers stay within one point of Michigan State
Up Next: The Badgers continue their series against Penn State on Saturday, Feb. 24. The game starts at 5 p.m. and streams on B1G+. Audio play-by-play airs on the Badgers Radio network, including 1310 WIBA in the Madison area and 97.3 The Game in Milwaukee. It also airs on the Badgers app and The Varsity Network app. Follow along on X/Twitter and Instagram @BadgerMHockey.
