UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Max Ellis had a pair of goals and Landon Slaggert added the game winner with seven minutes left in the third period as Notre Dame skated to a 4-2 win at Penn State on Friday night at Pegula Ice Arena (5,639).
Grant Silianoff also scored for the Irish, while Jesse Lansdell added two assists and Ryan Bischel made a career-high 38 saves to post the win.
Notre Dame was 1-for-2 on the power play and held the Nittany Lions to an 0-for-3 mark on the power play.
With the win, the Irish improved to 14-6-0 (7-4-0-2-1-0 B1G) on the season.
Oskar Autio finished with 30 saves for Penn State (12-9-0, 3-8-0-0-0-0).
How It Happened
Ryan Bischel was tested right off the jump, denying Simon Mack from the slot just 36 seconds into the first.
As the period wore on, it was the Irish who applied the offensive pressure with Oskar Autio forced to make stops on Zach Plucinski, Jesse Lansdell and Max Ellis.
Landon Slaggert and Trevor Janicke nearly got the Irish on the board with six minutes left in the first on a two-on-one chance but Autio stopped Slaggert’s initial shot and Janicke’s follow up on the rebound.
After the scoreless first, Jake Pivonka found Ellis at the back post for a 1-0 lead just 37 seconds into the second period. It was Ellis’ team-leading 12th goal of the season and Pivonka’s first point since returning from injury. Jesse Lansdell also assisted on the play.
Grant Silianoff had a tap-in at the back post off a Lansdell cross-crease feed to make it a 2-0 game at 3:01 of the second, with Spencer Stastney earning the second assist on the power-play goal.
Penn State’s Adam Pilewicz cut the lead in half, scoring his second of the year with a shot from the point through traffic at 4:23.
Nick Leivermann nearly added to the lead midway through the second when he made a nice move to get around a Penn State defenseman in the slot but his shot hit the post.
Tyler Paquette then tied it up for the Nittany Lions, taking advantage of an Irish turnover and scoring his seventh of the season at 19:20 to make it a 2-2 game after two periods of play.
Adam Karashik made a patient play at the point, holding until he was able to connect with Landon Slaggert in front, who are-directed the feed past Autio for what proved to be the game-winning goal at 13:02 of the third.
Ellis then sealed the win with an empty netter at 18:09 for his 13th goal of the year.
Notes
- Max Ellis had a pair of goals for his sixth multipoint game of the season and the 11th of his career.
- Ellis now has four multi-goal games this season.
- Jesse Lansdell had a pair of assists for his second multipoint game of the season and the fifth of his career.
- Lansdell’s two assists also tied his career-high mark (now has three two-assist games).
- Ryan Bischel finished with a career-high 38 saves.
- Notre Dame is now 10-1-0 on the year when scoring first.
Next Up
- Notre Dame and Penn State close out their weekend series at 5 p.m. ET tomorrow (Jan. 8) and the game will also be available on Big Ten Network Plus.
- Next weekend, the Irish are back on the road with a two-game series at Ohio State (Jan. 14-15).
— ND —