MSU carried over its offense from Friday’s 5-3 victory into Saturday’s first period, and it was Spartan defenseman who got MSU on the board.

Sophomore RJ Boyd and senior Matt Grassi netted two very similar goals about two and a half minutes apart in the first frame.

Both took slapshots that made their way into the net above Penn State goaltender Matthew Skoff’s glove hand — Boyd from the left point and Grassi from the right.

That goal was Grassi’s first of the season.

“It was nice,” Grassi said. “I’ve hit a couple crossbars of late, so it was nice that one finally went in. It’s unfortunate; it doesn’t feel as sweet when the team loses. But on a personal level, it was nice to get the monkey off the back.”

Unfortunately for MSU, that offense took a downward turn following the first period, and Penn State came out swinging, racking up 50 shots throughout the game.

“I thought we came out in the first, I thought we had a good first period” captain and junior forward Greg Wolfe said.

“Guys were jumping, we got the early goal. Then just with the change of momentum in the game … kind of threw us off and then they were able to get some momentum.”

The Nittany Lions started the second period on a power play and got on the board about 32 seconds in. Mark Yanis picked up a rebound while freshman Jake Hildebrand got caught in a scuffle right outside the crease.

“Giving up that power play goal at the start of the period, that hurt,” head coach Tom Anastos said. “That’s not a good time to give up a goal.”

Penn State’s Casey Bailey got the tying goal early in the third, and Taylor Holstrom netted the go-ahead with about four minutes left to play.

MSU freshman Jake Hildebrand faced a career-high 47 shots, and Anastos said he believes part of that is because of the style of offense Penn State plays with: throw every puck at the net and crowd the front of the goal.

“Hildebrand did a really good job of stopping lots of those,” Anastos said. “That’s tough on goalies, covering post-to-post, all that kind of pressure. But, that’s in my opinion — at least without watching the game back — how the shot accumulation became so high.”

Anastos made the decision to sit sophomore forward Matt Berry following a roughing after the whistle call 4:51 into the third period.

He said although Berry is the team’s leading scorer, MSU is dealing with enough to have to deal with a lack of discipline and “if the team doesn’t come first, you can’t play.”