ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Penn State climbed out of an early hole Friday night, only to have its potential equalizer wiped away by an offside review.
No. 2 Michigan scored twice late to secure a 6-3 victory at Yost Ice Arena, leaving the Nittany Lions still searching for their first Big Ten win.
Penn State fell to 2-8-1 overall and 0-4-1 in conference play. Michigan improved to 9-1-0 and 2-1-0.
The Wolverines needed six minutes to build a 3-0 lead. Jack Nesbitt opened the scoring at 1:42, Drew Schock followed at 3:29 and Malcolm Spence added a power-play goal at 6:06.
Penn State steadied itself behind Justin Poirier, whose wrist shot from the right circle beat Jack Ivankovic on the power play at 8:33. The goal extended Poirier’s career-best point streak to eight games.
Freshman Shea Busch brought the Nittany Lions within 3-2 just 1:23 into the second period, finishing a feed from Kale Dach. Michigan answered when Aidan Park redirected Schock’s point shot past Josh Fleming at 10:01.
Reese Laubach made it a one-goal game again early in the third, scoring off a setup from Lev Katzin at 3:47.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.Then came the night’s pivotal reversal.
Justin Larose appeared to tie the game with a one-timer at 7:06, but Michigan successfully challenged for offside, preserving its 4-3 advantage.
Poirier later hit the post before Nick Moldenhauer scored with 1:59 remaining. Ben Robertson’s empty-netter with 39.8 seconds left finished it.
Fleming made 29 saves, while Ivankovic stopped 28. Michigan outshot Penn State 35-31, and both teams finished 1-for-3 on the power play.
Katzin recorded two assists, pushing his season total to seven points in nine games and surpassing last season’s six-point output.
Penn State’s rally kept the outcome in doubt, but its disastrous opening left too little room for another setback.
