MSU hockey (12-12-2, 6-4-2-2 Big Ten) completed a weekend sweep of No. 19 Penn State Saturday night at Munn Ice Arena. The Spartans beat the hardworking Nittany Lions 3-2 behind a hat trick from sophomore forward Mackenzie MacEachern. Junior goaltender Jake Hildebrand made 40 saves in the game, earning his 12th victory of the season.
For the second straight night, MacEachern opened the game’s scoring. Just past the midway point of the first period, MacEachern started the play by making a pass along the blue line to senior defenseman Ron Boyd. With senior forward Matt Berry standing in front of the net, Boyd fired a wrist shot that went wide and bounced off the backboards. With MacEachern driving to the net hard, the shot careened off the side of the net and landed right on the stick of MacEachern, who buried his eighth goal of the year high-glove side.
The Nittany Lions tied the game at 1-1 on a power play goal 7:31 into the second period. Junior defenseman Connor Varley let a slap shot go from the blue line that beat Hildebrand to his blocker side. The goal ended a streak of 164:45 where MSU hadn’t allowed a goal at Munn.
PSU was all over the Spartans through the first half of the second period, but took two costly penalties in a span of 1:03 that gave MSU a two-man advantage.
MSU capitalized on the 5-on-3 power play when MacEachern tallied his second goal of the game. Junior forward Matt DeBlouw, who drew the first PSU penalty, let a blast go from the blue line. After PSU goaltender Matthew Skoff made the initial pad save, the rebound found its way right to MacEachern to the side of the net who made no mistake in giving MSU a 2-1 lead. DeBlouw and Berry registered assists on the play, giving that forward line nine combined points on the weekend.
MSU got its sixth opportunity on the power play when PSU junior forward Curtis Loik got called for high-sticking 7:55 into the 3rd period. MacEachern added his third goal of the game, and fourth of the weekend, off another rebound from a Berry shot.
PSU forward Casey Bailey made it 3-2 with 2:24 remaining in the game, but couldn’t manage to score the tying goal.
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