Illness and injury necessitated roster changes for the Buckeyes at Penn State. Head coach Steve Rohlik worked his line blender magic once again, putting Luke Stork, Nick Oddo, and Christian Lampasso together. The trio had a big hand in tonight’s victory, combining for three goals and four assists.
Ohio State goalie Christian Frey was under assault from the opening faceoff. The Nittany Lions came out firing, outshooting the Bucks 20-9 in the first period. Frey and his PSU counterpart, Matt Skoff, stood tall in the early going. Neither team was able to find the back of the net in the opening frame.
| goals by period | 1 | 2 | 3 | OT | Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ohio State | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| Penn State | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
The story was the same for much of the second period. The teams traded power play chances. Shots were more even, but the results were the same. Goose eggs. Buckeye freshman Luke Stork finally cracked the scoreboard late in the second with his third goal of the season.
A few shifts later the neo-lunch pail line struck again. This time it was Christian Lampasso sniping the first goal of his OSU career. The intermission break didn’t stop the line, just slowed it down a bit. Stork didn’t record his second goal of the game until almost a whole minute into the third period.
The Bucks piled on a fourth goal minutes later as Nick Schilkey put a puck behind Skoff with some wrap around wizardry. PJ Musico relieved Skoff in net and it looked like Ohio State was about to cruise to their second Big Ten win of the season.
But Penn State refused to go quietly and OSU made the nearly fatal mistake of letting off the gas a little. The Nittany Lions continued their relentless offensive barrage. They outshot the Buckeyes 20-9 in the third period and scored four unanswered goals, sending the game to overtime.
| pd | time | buckeye goal scorer (assists) |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | 16:03 | Luke Stork (Nick Oddo, Christian Lampasso) |
| 2 | 19:22 | Christian Lampasso (Sam Jardine, Nick Oddo) |
| 3 | 0:59 | Luke Stork (Christian Lampasso, Janik Moser) |
| 3 | 2:45 | Nick Schilkey (Matt Johnson, Matt Weis) |
| 4 | 4:14 | Anthony Greco (unassisted) |
PSU leading scorer Casey Bailey got the come back started with a pair of goals about a minute apart. Then a David Goodwin deflection snuck by Frey. The frenzied final minutes ended with an extra attacker goal from Bailey, knotting the score at four-all. With three goals tonight Bailey is now tied for the national lead in goals scored.
In the overtime period the Buckeyes turned to their own deadeye sniper, Anthony Greco. Less than a minute from the end of OT and conceding a conference point, Greco cruised in to the zone on a two-on-one and nailed the top shelf, cementing an Ohio State victory.
Penn State outshot OSU 57-35 in the game. Each team had one power play chance, neither scored. This wasn’t the prettiest of wins, but they don’t award any extra points for style. A win’s a win.
The teams meet again tomorrow afternoon at 3pm. ASN will have that broadcast as well.
