SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Fighting Irish junior goaltender Ryan Bischel stopped all 35 shots he faced to lift 12th-ranked Notre Dame to a 3-0 victory and a weekend sweep of Penn State on Saturday night at Compton Family Ice Arena (4,678).
With the win, Notre Dame swept the regular-season series against the Nittany Lions 4-0-0 and notched its 20th victory of the season (20-8-0, 12-6-0-5-1-0 B1G). It marked Bischel’s second shutout of the season and of his career.
Freshman forward Tyler Carpenter scored his first career goal in the first period, which also proved to be the game winner. Junior forward Jesse Lansdell notched his sixth of the season in the second period and graduate student defenseman Adam Karashik sealed the win with his first goal in an Irish uniform, an empty netter at 17:36 of the third.
“They [Penn State] made it really hard on us and we were fortunate we had two guys score their first goals here,” head coach Jeff Jackson said after the win. “That was critical with the guys we have out of the lineup – the next man up scored the game-winning goal.”
Neither team had a power-play chance as the Irish and Nittany Lions were only whistles for a pair of matching minors.
Oskar Autio totaled 25 saves in net for Penn State (14-15-1, 5-14-1-1-1-1 B1G).
For the weekend sweep, 10 Irish players scored Notre Dame’s 10 goals and Bischel stopped 67 of the 69 shots he faced.
How It Happened
Four minutes into the first freshman forward Tyler Carpenter nearly had his first goal with a tip in front but Autio made the stop. Then at 10:20 of the first, Carpenter got another chance in front and buried the feed from Ryder Rolston for his first career goal, with the second assist going to Grant Silianoff as the Irish took a 1-0 lead.
That 1-0 lead would remain intact after the first 20 minutes of play, with Ryan Bischel making nine stops and Autio totaling 10 saves in the frame.
At 6:30 of the second, Graham Slaggert found Trevor Janicke from below the goal line for a one-timer that Autio was able to fight off, keeping it a 1-0 game.
Jesse Lansdell then doubled the Irish lead at 10:16 of the second, when he picked up a short pass from Max Ellis at the bottom of the faceoff circle and fired a shot low to the short side for his sixth goal of the season. Hunter Strand earned the second assist, winning a battle along the boards to get the puck to Ellis.
Just after taking the 2-0 lead, Bischel was called on to make a huge glove save on Ryan Kirwan to keep it a two-goal lead.
Notre Dame held that 2-0 lead after two periods of play.
In the third, the Irish limited the Nittany Lions’ chances and added an Adam Karashik empty net tally for the final 3-0 score. For Karashik, a graduate transfer, it marked his first goal in an Irish uniform.
Notes
- Tyler Carpenter came into the lineup for an injured Solag Bakich and scored his first career goal, which was also his first career game winner.
- Adam Karashik notched his first goal in an Irish uniform.
- Ryan Bischel made 35 saves to post his second shutout of the season/of his career and he stopped 67 of the 69 shots he faced in the weekend series (.971).
- Notre Dame’s 10 goals in the series were scored by 10 different players, including first career goals by Carpenter and Justin Janicke, as well as first goals with the Irish by Karashik and Chase Blackmun.
- The Fighting Irish are now 13-5-0 at Compton Family Ice Arena this season and 14-1-0 when scoring first this season.
- Paul Cartier, organist for the New York Yankees and New York Islanders, served his second of two nights as Compton Family Ice Arena’s guest organist.
Next Up
- Notre Dame heads out on the road next week for a two-game series at Wisconsin on Thursday, Feb. 10 (BTN) and Friday, Feb. 11 (Bally Sports Wisconsin).
– ND –