DETROIT — Fifth-seed Ohio State continued its hot streak on Thursday and moved into a Big Ten tournament semifinal matchup with Minnesota by upending Penn State 3-1 at Joe Louis Arena in the first of the Big Ten quarterfinal matchups.
The Buckeyes are 7-3-1 in their last 11 games and playing well at the right time.
[scg_html_b1g2015]”It’s kind of what we’re expecting right now,” said Buckeyes sophomore forward Nick Schilkey. “We’ve planned on it from the beginning of the year, that we’ve got to play our best hockey right now. That’s what the coaches preach. And it turns out that’s what we’re doing.”
Ohio State picked up a strong goaltending performance from sophomore Christian Frey. The netminder entered the game with a 3.17 GAA on the season, but he looked stellar on Thursday, stopping 30 of 31 shots in the victory.
Along with a strong defensive corps in front of him, Frey held the No. 9 scoring team in the nation to just one goal. Penn State entered the game averaging 3.28 goals per game.
“Christian Frey has had a great second half,” said OSU coach Steve Rohlik. “He’s quiet and it looked like everything just hits him. Again, tonight he was in the right spot. He’s not all over the place, and he just seems in control. When he’s in control like this, he’s a very good goalie.”
In addition to Frey’s performance, it was the strong play of the defense in front of the goaltender that muted Penn State’s offense.
“I see a deep group that’s gotten more and more confidence handling the puck,” said Rohlik. “When you have the puck more you’re not giving up as many shots. I think our ‘D’ group as a whole is just believing in one another, also our forwards are back down there helping out. So it’s a good time of year to have those six guys back there playing well.”
“You look at the game and you certainly wouldn’t think it was one of our best performances, but I tell you what, it was definitely one of our greatest,” said Penn State coach Guy Gadowsky. “We had a couple of guys that probably shouldn’t have played at all and really gritted it out.”
[photoshelter-gallery g_id=”G0000v2i_OWRH95g” g_name=”20150319-OhioState-PennState-LRadloff” f_show_caption=”t” f_show_slidenum=”t” img_title=”casc” pho_credit=”iptc” f_link=”t” f_bbar=”t” fsvis=”f” width=”500″ height=”375″ bgcolor=”#AAAAAA” bgtrans=”t” btype=”old” bcolor=”#CCCCCC” crop=”f” trans=”xfade” tbs=”4000″ f_ap=”t” linkdest=”c” f_fullscreen=”f” f_constrain=”f” twoup=”f” f_topbar=”f” f_bbarbig=”” f_htmllinks=”f” f_enable_embed_btn=”f” f_show_watermark=”f” f_send_to_friend_btn=”f” f_smooth=”f” f_mtrx=”f” f_up=”f” target=”_self” wmds=”llQ6QNgpeC.p1Ucz7U.f22Fa3haIQPZPFLtSGR9bCwHy_bxw43Cr4qKVekkKb6LTA4WQjg–” ]Schilkey opened up the scoring at the 8:01 mark of the opening period, picking up the puck in the neutral zone on a Nittany Lions turnover. He skated in on Eamon McAdam and snapped a shot past the netminder’s glove for his 10th marker of the season. David Gust assisted on the play.
“We got a good bounce there, said Schilkey.” I came down [the ice] and there was nobody in front of me. I looked down and fired it past his blocker.”
The Buckeyes made it 2-0 at the 14:13 mark of the period. Tanner Fritz skated in wide on a Penn State defender in the Nittany Lions zone, then dropped a pass back for senior defenseman Justin DaSilva, who one-timed it past McAdam from the top of the left circle for his second goal of the season. Clark Cristofoli also assisted on the play.
“[Fritz] left a nice little gift for me there and I don’t think the goalie saw it,” DaSilva said. “Their ‘D’ man tried to block it. So it was set up for me and I was fortunate to put it in.”
Penn State cut the lead in half at 9:38 of the second period. Senior center Max Gardiner blistered a shot top shelf from the top of the left circle for his fifth goal of the year. Tommy Olczyk assisted on the play.
“Tommy Olczyk — he made a real nice play there,” said Gardiner. “He picked off a pass and made a nice pass to me. Zach kind of drew the ‘D’ over, drove hard doing that, and kind of gave me an opening to let one go. Luckily enough it went in.”
The Buckeyes regained the two-goal margin with one minute remaining in the second period. Skating in his own defensive zone, alternate captain Sam Jardine found the tape of Gust at the opposite blue line. Gust skated in alone on McAdam, deked the goaltender and backhanded the puck into the net for his third goal of the season.
Penn State ended its season with an 18-15-4 record.
“I know it’s not the result we wanted,” said Gadowsky. “But I’ll tell you what, when these guys — especially this senior class — looks back at what they accomplished while they’ve been here and especially this season, I think they’re going to be very proud.”
The Buckeyes will play Minnesota at 4:30 p.m. EDT Friday in the first semifinal game.
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