Michigan
10-2-0, 5-1-0
Penn State
6-5-0, 0-4-0
Michigan's Big Guns Deliver in Sweep of No. 19 Penn State
11/12/2021 10:14:00 PM | Ice Hockey
» Kent Johnson collected four assists and Matty Beniers notched four points to tie career highs.
» Owen Power (goal, two assists) and Luke Hughes (two goals, assist) each notched three-point games.
» Erik Portillo stopped 35 of 37 shots in the win to set a new personal best in saves.
Site: State College, Pa. (Pegula Ice Arena)
Score: #2 Michigan 6, #19 Penn State 2
Records: U-M (10-2-0, 5-1-0 B1G), PSU (6-5-0, 0-4-0 B1G)
Next U-M Event: Friday, Nov. 19 -- vs. Notre Dame (Yost Ice Arena), 7:30 p.m.
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- The second-ranked University of Michigan ice hockey team scored four straight goals after No. 19 Penn State tied the game at 1, creating separation to cruise to a comfortable 6-2 victory at Pegula Ice Arena on Friday night (Nov. 12). With the win, the Wolverines secured a sweep and moved to 10-2 on the season while sitting in first place in the Big Ten with 15 points in six games.
Netminder Erik Portillo, who recorded a career-high 35 saves, was assessed an early minor penalty for slashing 4:07 into the game following a small blockage near his crease as play headed down the ice. While Brendan Brisson served the penalty on behalf of his goalie, Portillo came up with a key stop on a dangerous shot from the slot halfway through the penalty kill to keep PSU off the scoreboard. After finishing off the kill, U-M moved to a perfect five-for-five on the weekend.
Back at even strength, Kent Johnson flipped a bouncing puck into the zone toward the Penn State net when the puck took an unexpected hop off of goalie Liam Souliere's pad. Meanwhile, Brisson was gliding toward the blue paint in perfect position to tame the rebound and slickly shelf it with the back of his blade, opening the scoring from a tight angle near the goal line at 7:02 of the first frame. Johnson and Matty Beniers picked up the assists on Brisson's game-opening, backhander.
With 8:24 remaining in the first period, defenseman Keaton Pehrson was penalized for contact to the head, leaving U-M to play with five defensemen and kill off a five-minute major penalty.
Despite several stints of sustained pressure from the Nittany Lions, U-M was able to stymie the Penn State power-play unit to continue down the weekend's path to penalty-kill perfection.
After 20 minutes of play at Pegula, Michigan held a 1-0 lead. Portillo was especially stellar in the first period, stopping all 14 Penn State shots that he faced to keep them off the board.
The Nittany Lions did not stay off the board long, as they buried a loose rebound to tie the game at 1-1 just 36 seconds into the second period. A long shot from the point was deflected away from Portillo by a U-M stick; the puck skittered into the blue paint onto the blade of an idling PSU forward, who converted into the open patch of net.
In response, freshman Luke Hughes dashed down the ice and created a goal of his own with a gorgeous top-shelf laser in transition at 2:44.
Dylan Duke and Luke Morgan were credited with the helpers on Hughes' tally that pushed Michigan back into the lead at 2-1.
On Michigan's first power-play opportunity, which came shortly after killing off Penn State's third, Johnson collected a rebound in the high slot and chose not to shoot after noticing Beniers was open down low below the left circle. Instead, Johnson sent a shot-pass left of the net that Beniers redirected into the net to double the U-M lead and make it 3-1. Johnson and Owen Power continued their hot play by notching the lone assist on Beniers' seventh goal in four games.
Later in the period, Thomas Bordeleau collected a drop pass from Power before winding up and scoring with a bomb of a shot from the slot between the top of the circles with 1:15 left in the middle stanza. The goal was Bordeleau's first since Oct. 16 when he scored in the Ice Breaker Championship vs. Minnesota State. Power and Hughes earned assists on Bordeleau's blast.
With 20 minutes left to play in the series, U-M took a commanding 4-1 lead into the visitor's locker room despite trailing 24-18 in shots on goal.
Power scored an unassisted goal 1:49 into the third period to extend the Michigan lead to 5-1 and secure his second consecutive three-point game.
The penalty killers were put to the test halfway through the final frame when U-M went down two skaters after taking consecutive minor penalties to give PSU the five-on-three advantage. Shortly after the first Michigan skater was released from the box, the Nittany Lions scored to capitalize on the remaining power play and make it 5-2. After starting the weekend with nine consecutive kills, U-M finally surrendered a power-play goal in their 10th try with 12:05 left to play.
Michigan's freshman phenom on the blue line, Hughes, dashed down the ice shortly after the team ceded a second goal, calmly accepting a pass as he skated into vacant space in the center of PSU's zone. After moving in without issue and picking his spot, Hughes released a rocket of a wrist shot that beat Souliere to reinstate a four-goal lead for the Maize and Blue at 6-2. On the goal, Johnson collected his fourth assist of the evening to tie a career high that he set last season in a 9-0 win over Michigan State. With the secondary assist, Beniers also tied a career-best with his fourth point of the game.
After putting the finishing touches on a 6-2 win and a weekend sweep, the Wolverines saluted PSU from the blue line and headed off the ice to celebrate. Shots on goal ended in PSU's favor, 37-33, but the Wolverines now sit atop the Big Ten standings.
With the victory, Michigan reached the 10-win mark on the earliest calendar date in program history. The previous mark was Nov. 13, set by the 1999-00 Wolverines.
Next weekend, Michigan will return to the friendly confines of Yost Ice Arena for a two-game series against No. 15 Notre Dame. Friday night's (Nov. 19) game is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m., while puck drop for Saturday's (Nov. 20) contest is set for 8 p.m. Both games will be streamed live on B1G+.
