MADISON, Wis. – Two Penn State power-play goals late in the third period proved to be fatal as the Badgers fell to the Penn State Nittany Lions, 6-2, on Saturday night at the Kohl Center.
Wisconsin (11-16-3, 6-13-1 Big Ten - 24 points) opened the scoring 11:57 into the first period on a shot from Kyle Kukkonen. Penn State (14-11-3, 5-10-3 Big Ten - 20 points) responded 14:58 into the frame before adding another goal 6:36 into the second to take a 2-1 lead. PSU made it a 3-1 game 4:49 into the third period before Ryland Mosley scored another power-play goal for Wisconsin to cut the Nittany Lions' lead in half. Penn State then struck three more times in the final 7:16 of the third, twice on the power play and once short-handed into the empty net, to take home a 6-2 victory and the series sweep.
How it Happened
Wisconsin got on the board first, 11:57 into the first period on a power-play goal from junior forward Kukkonen. At the middle of the blue line, freshman defenseman Logan Hensler took a shot, which hit graduate student defenseman Owen Lindmark in the foot. Kukkonen found the rebound and shot the puck past PSU goaltender Aresenii Sergeev to score his eighth goal of the year.
Penn State tied the game at one, 14:58 into the opening frame after Cade Christenson beat UW senior goaltender
Tommy Scarfone.
Reese Laubach helped PSU take a 2-1 lead 6:36 into the second period.
Laubach scored his second goal of the night 4:49 in the third period to make it 3-1, Nittany Lions.
Graduate student forward Mosley cut the deficit in half 6:26 into the third on the power play. Scarfone possessed the puck behind the Badgers' net and sent a long pass to freshman forward
Gavin Morrissey at the left side of the Penn State blue line. Morrissey then rushed the puck into the zone, skating to the bottom of the circle before passing up to Mosley near the slot, who fired a shot home to tally his 13th goal of the year.
PSU then scored two power-play goals, one at 12:44 into the third and another 15:08 into the third with a five-on-three advantage, to extend its lead to three.
The Nittany Lions added a short-handed empty-net goal with 2:19 remaining to take home a 6-2 victory.
Wisconsin went 2-for-4 on the power play and 5-for-7 on the penalty kill. UW finished the contest with a 41-22 advantage in shots on goal.
Notes to know:
- Goaltender
Tommy Scarfone tallied his first career point. It marked the first point for a UW goaltender since Jared Moe notched an assist vs. Lindenwood on Nov. 19, 2022
Straight from the rink
Head Coach Mike Hastings
On changing the lineups tonight
"We have to find some secondary scoring and if [the top line is] off, which they have been a little bit, we need somebody else to bring it up. That's what we're gonna be in pursuit of here starting Monday, and we tried a little bit tonight. I thought there were some positives there. We'll break it down, look at it, see if we're keeping a couple groups together or if we're mixing things up because it has to change."
On tonight's game
"Even last night, I thought we had some bite to us. The competition was there, maybe not the execution or the finishing in the second period, but I thought that boiled over into the third period and we took some penalties that we haven't taken. We all own it, and we've got to go back to work. Take tomorrow off, and then we have to get right back to work on Monday."
Graduate student forward Ryland Mosley
On scoring on the power play tonight
"It hasn't been very good the last three games, so just getting back to what we were doing before really helps us. We just have to keep it going."
Junior defenseman Ben Dexheimer
On getting ready for next weekend's series
"We've got two weeks left. Every day we have to come wanting to win, wanting to win Monday, wanting to win Tuesday and then hopefully that filters into Friday and Saturday."
Up Next: The Badgers visit No. 9 Ohio State for their final regular season road trip on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 14-15. Friday's game starts at 6 p.m. CT and streams on B1G+, while Saturday's contest begins at 7:30 p.m. CT and airs on the Big Ten Network. Audio play-by-play can be found on 1310 WIBA as well as on the Badgers app and the Varsity Network app. You can also follow along on X/Twitter and Instagram at @BadgerMHockey.
