Pair of power-play goals leads Penn State past No. 7 Gophers

Five different Nittany Lions players scored as Penn State defeated the Gophers men’s hockey team 5-3 Friday night at 3M Arena at Mariucci.

The Gophers fell behind 1-0 in the first period, but tied it up with 32-seconds left in the opening frame when freshman Matthew Knies scored. Knies had a three-point night for Minnesota.

The Gophers took a 2-1 lead when Jaxon Nelson scored on the power play early in the second period, but Penn State’s Connor MacEachern answered with a power-play goal of his own 1:25 later. The Nittany Lions then took a 3-2 lead on a Ben Copeland goal.

Nelson scored his second goal of the night with the man advantage with 1:02 left in the second period and the teams went into the second intermission tied at 3-3.

Penn State controlled the action early in the third period. Christian Sarlo scored a power-play goal 2:10 in the third to give the Nittany Lions a 4-3 lead. Chase McLane scored an unassisted goal 58-seconds later for a 5-3 Penn State lead.

The loss dropped the Gophers to 2-5 on Friday nights this season.