Crucial sequence late in second period leads to Gophers men's hockey defeat against Penn State

As soon as Penn State's Christian Sarlo emerged from the penalty box with seconds left in the second period, having served his two minutes for hooking, the puck was on his stick.

From there, it was just a pivot and dash to the Gophers goal on a breakaway, though it felt more like a slow-motion replay in real time. Gophers defenseman Jackson LaCombe slid too early for a block, and goaltender Justen Close struggled to scooch from one goalpost to the other, all while Sarlo calmly glided around with the puck until he found his clear opening for the go-ahead goal in the Nittany Lions' 4-2 victory Thursday night.

For a Gophers team that managed only four shots in a creaky first period but revamped in the second to tie the score 1-1, it was a crushing way to enter the final intermission. And this time, there was no jump-start to begin the final period.

"We turned one over [in] the last seconds of the second period, and that turned out to be a devastating mistake," Gophers coach Bob Motzko said. "Well, then we do it again to start the third."

Connor MacEachern scored unassisted 48 seconds into last period as Penn State gradually pulled away at 3M Arena at Mariucci in front of an announced crowd of 6,664.

Judging from just this game, the Gophers certainly didn't look like the No. 1 team in the nation. The 7-4 team (3-2 Big Ten) earned that billing partly from their tough schedule. This is their fifth consecutive weekend playing a nationally ranked opponent. The Nittany Lions are No. 8 (10-1-0, 4-1-0 Big Ten) — except not in the PairWise rankings, the ones that determine postseason bids, where they're the top team.

That one loss came one series ago to Michigan, the former No. 1 team. And facing a new top squad five days later clearly didn't daunt the Nittany Lions. The Gophers, though, are putting more blame on themselves for not performing up to the standard of the top position.

Defenseman Brock Faber said his team was not ready to start the game, and that's a hard switch to turn on after the puck drops.

"We were trying to play cute, we were trying to play slow. We weren't physical enough," Faber said. "… Toe drags, slip-throughs, trying to beat guys at one-on-one, that's not going to work against them. As soon as you make those turnovers, that's when they pounce on it. So I think we just gave up too much."

The first period was an example of that. By the time Penn State had its first goal about six minutes in — MacEachern capitalizing on a two-on-one — the Gophers had managed only one shot on goal. By the end of the first period, Penn State had outshot them 9-4.

That did improve in the second, with the Gophers holding Penn State to one shot on goal for most of the period and eventually putting up 14 shots to their opponents' eight. That helped winger Bryce Brodzinski score about 2 ½ minutes into the second period, thanks in part to a deft maneuver from center Logan Cooley to skate around a Penn State defenseman for the assist.

That 1-1 score quickly turned into a 3-1 deficit, though the Gophers did narrow the margin when center Aaron Huglen scored his first goal of the season about 4 ½ minutes into the third. But with only seconds left in the game, the Nittany Lions scored an empty-net goal from Ashton Calder to put the game out of reach.

Close finished with 27 saves and Penn State goaltender Liam Souliere made 24, with Penn State edging the Gophers in shots 28-26.

Motzko didn't blame Close for the goals he allowed, instead putting the onus on his skaters for letting Penn State dictate play for all but 35 minutes of the full 60, per Motzko.

"It was a tale of two games," Motzko said. "You get off to a slow start. We're a little frustrated. We followed it in the second period. And then unfortunately, we handed them two goals. You can't do that."