At University Park, Pa., No. 15 Minnesota erased a two-goal deficit including a game-tying goal with 40 seconds left in regulation before falling to Penn State, 4-3, in overtime on Saturday night in Big Ten men's hockey.
For the second night in a row, Penn State jumped out to a first period lead as Curtis Loik scored a power-play goal at 7:21 followed by an even-strength goal from Scott Conway at 12:23.
Down by two, the Gophers (17-10-3 overall, 8-3-3-0 Big Ten) made up ground in the second period with Travis Boyd's two power-play goals sandwiched around a third Penn State goal. The Gophers senior forward scored his first of the night at 8:17 and added his 15th goal of the season at 16:21, sending the game into the third at a 3-2 advantage for the Nittany Lions.
The Minnesota senior class completed the comeback when Sam Warning pounded home the equalizer at 19:20 of the third period after being set up by Hudson Fasching and Rau for the extra-attacker goal. Minnesota's senior class ended the weekend with four of the team's five goals in the series.
After a penalty was called on the Gophers in overtime, Penn State (16-10-4, 8-5-1-0) picked up its first-ever win over the Gophers when Luke Juha scored the game-winning power-play goal at 2:13 of the overtime session.
Adam Wilcox made 30 saves in net for Minnesota while P.J. Musico picked up the win with 32 saves. The Gophers outshot the Nittany Lions 35-34 in the game and went 2 for 4 on the power play.
Minnesota returns to action next weekend, hosting Michigan State in a rare Thursday-Friday Big Ten series at Mariucci Arena.
