Four-Goal Second Period Leads No. 18 Men’s Hockey Past St. Thomas, 6-2

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – No. 18 Penn State scored four goals in the second period including three in a span of 66 seconds en route to a 6-4 victory over St. Thomas in non-conference action on Thursday night at Pegula Ice Arena.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• For the fifth-straight game to open the season Penn State (5-0-0) got on the board first as a strong fore-check behind the net from freshman Alex Servagno (Gibsonia, Pa.) caused a turnover and senior Tyler Gratton (Pottstown, Pa.) found classmate Ture Linden (Great Falls, Va.) alone in the slot for the one-time score and 1-0 lead at the 15:32 mark of the first period.
• The Nittany Lions erupted early in the second period pushing the lead to 4-0 with three goals in the span of 66 seconds as sophomore Simon Mack (Brockville, Ontario) fired through traffic for his first collegiate goal at the 5:46 mark before senior Connor MacEachern (Brooklin, Ontario) and sophomore Ben Schoen (Maumee, Ohio) potted goals just 40 seconds apart at 6:12 and 6:52, respectively.
• Sophomore Ryan Kirwan (DeWitt, N.Y.) later laced a one-timer from the left dot off a feed from junior Jimmy Dowd Jr. (Point Pleasant Beach, N.J.) for the 5-0 margin at 11:04 of the second period.
• The Tommies (1-4-0) got on the board with just 0.4 seconds remaining as Ethan Gauer finished at the doorstep off a pass from Luc Laylin for the 5-1n deficit.
• St. Thomas continued to cut into the deficit just after a powerplay expired as Lucas Wahlin was left open at the far post and he fired it past the blocker of Nittany Lion junior goaltender Liam Souliere…