Penn State erases early deficit, stuns Ohio State 3-2 behind late push
Penn State walked into Columbus and took a punch in the mouth. The Nittany Lions trailed 2-0 before most fans found their seats, and even had an early Gavin McKenna goal wiped out on review. Penn State reset, took control, and stormed back to beat No. 17 Ohio State 3-2 on Thursday night in the Big Ten opener.
The win moves Penn State to 8-1-0 and immediately sets a tone in conference play. Ohio State falls to 4-3-0.
The start could not have gone much worse for Penn State. Broten Sabo ripped one home just 79 seconds in, and Riley Thompson tipped a power-play feed at 4:12 to make it 2-0. The Lions briefly thought they had answered right away, but video review overturned the goal for goalie interference and kept momentum with the Buckeyes. Ohio State carried play early and outshot Penn State 15-7 in the period.
Everything flipped in the second.
Penn State leaned into its pace, rolled all four lines, and finally broke through at 14:13 when freshman phenom Gavin McKenna fed a beautiful pass to JJ Wiebusch for a power-play strike to cut the deficit to one. It felt like the moment where Penn State finally grabbed the game. The Lions outshot the Buckeyes 16-6 in the second and looked like the faster, deeper group.
The third period was all business. At 10:14, Nicholas Chin-DeGraves and Jarod Crespo worked the puck to captain Dane Dowiak, who buried the tying goal. Just 97 seconds later, Luke Misa scores his first NCAA goal, jumping on a loose puck and wiring home the go-ahead tally off feeds from Ben Schoen and Casey Aman.
From there, Penn State locked down and closed looking like a, finishing with a 37-30 shots edge and only allowing nine Buckeye shots in the final frame. Kevin Reidler was sharp when needed with 28 saves.
Wiebusch, Dowiak, and Misa scored, McKenna picked up an assist, and Penn State’s depth again showed up. That’s how tournament-caliber teams win on the road.
The series wraps Friday at 6:30 p.m. in Columbus with a blackout game and Script Ohio on Ice. Ohio State will be hungry to answer after blowing a two-goal lead. Penn State, meanwhile, has a chance to sweep and cement itself as the early Big Ten pace-setter.