NEW YORK – In the inaugural Big Ten Super Saturday, Michigan relied on another strong third period to come from behind to beat Penn State, 6-3, giving the Wolverines a two-game sweep of PSU and a part of first place in the Big Ten standings.
“I think we’re just proving that we might be a top 10 team,” said Michigan coach Red Berenson. “I explained to our team about a month ago that there are teams with only one or two or three losses, and if we can be one of those teams, we can be a special team, but if the losses pile up, we won’t be. Our team is finding a way. They’ve got a little confidence, they’ve got some momentum, and now we’re getting contribution from other guys.”
Four unanswered third-period goals by three different Michigan players tied the game for the Wolverines and put them ahead for good, and in all five Wolverines accounted for the offensive production. Michigan’s top line of Kyle Connor, JT Compher, and Tyler Motte was kept relatively quiet until the third period; Motte netted the final two goals of the game after sustaining a hit to the head.
Two Michigan seniors, though, proved to be essential in the third-period comeback. Boo Nieves scored his sixth goal of the season at 2:19 in the third, crashing the net on the right fed by Sam Piazza on the left, and Justin Selman’s eighth goal of the year at 10:50 — beautifully set up from behind the net by Tony Calderone — held up to be the game-winner.
“Selman had a great game at center,” said Berenson. “I put him on center and he hasn’t played center all year. I just needed some experience with that third line and he pulled it off, and he made the line better and he ended up with a big goal.”
It was Penn State’s game through two periods, with the Nittany Lions answering each time the Wolverines scored a goal and then pulling ahead 3-2 with two goals in a three-minute span early in the second. Alex Kile opened the scoring for Michigan at 14:55 in the first, threading traffic through the crease and firing to beat Eamon McAdam long, but with 40.7 seconds left in the first, David Goodwin answered for Penn State, redirecting Vince Pedrie’s pass from below the goal line past Steve Racine to make it 1-1 after one.
Compher scored 15 seconds into the second, short-handed, to give the Wolverines another lead, but Andrew Sturtz registered his 13th goal of the season at 2:01 to knot the game again, and Ricky De Rosa put the Nittany Lions ahead at 4:57.
“I thought we played our game for the most part, definitely throughout the first two periods pretty consistently,” said Penn State coach Guy Gadowsky. “I felt really good about how we played the first two periods.”
“It took the third period for us to get going,” said Berenson, “and then we got the goal we needed. We really needed that first goal.”
Coming into tonight’s game, the Wolverines had outscored opponents 42-15 in third periods this season.
With the win, the Wolverines improve to 16-3-4 (7-1-2-1 B1G) and are now tied with Minnesota for first place, each team with 24 points. The Nittany Lions (16-7-3, 6-4-0-0 B1G) remain in third place with 18 points.
Next Friday (Feb. 5), Michigan meets Michigan State in Joe Louis Arena before playing the Spartans in East Lansing the following night. The Nittany Lions will travel to Minnesota for two games the same nights. Michigan and Penn State will meet again in Ann Arbor March 11-12 to cap the regular season.
