CHICAGO — A third period rally from the Irish set Notre Dame up for an eight-round shootout thriller at Wrigley Field Friday night against Penn State, 3-3. The Irish and Nittany Lions clashed in the historic building, officially skating away with the 3-3 tie, but it was Ryan Helliwell’s efforts in the shootout, on top of Nicholas Kempf’s play in net that ultimately clinched the second league point for the “home” Irish.
Grant Silianoff got the Irish on the board early with a home-run rebound off Jack Larrigan’s shot to give the Irish the opening tally.
The Nittany Lions would answer less than a minute later to even it up at 1-1 just over halfway through the first period.
Notre Dame fired the next four shots on goal to even the shot count but were unable to convert and the two sides continued to skate in a 1-1 stalemate.
The Irish were called for a trip at 13:19 of the first and the penalty kill unit saw its first test of the night. The special teams unit successfully killed off the infraction and returned to full strength hockey with the score knotted late.
Penn State was called for interference with 2:15 to play in the opening frame and the Irish were quick to capitalize, taking the 2-1 edge off a goal from Justin Janicke with under a minute to go.
Notre Dame carried the one-goal game into the first intermission and looked to hold onto that lead through the second 20 minutes but a late goal by the Nittany Lions evened it up as the two teams skated to their respective lockers after 40 minutes of play.
Penn State carried the momentum from their late second period goal into the third, beating Nicholas Kempf in net with 19:50 still to go in the frame.
The Irish offense refused to let up as they found themselves trailing for the first time of the night.
The Irish had their second powerplay opportunity of the game at 7:59 of the final frame but despite a few grade-A chances, Notre Dame could not find twine and continued to trail a little over halfway through the third.
Shortly after returning to five-on-five play, the Irish picked up the puck and dominated possession in the offensive end. It was Carter Slaggert who net the crucial game-tying tally at 11:02 of the third period ti keep Irish hopes alive..
Notre Dame was relentless on the attack through the remainder of the frame but could not break the PSU netminding for the elusive fourth goal.
The two teams battled but neither side could find the go-ahead tally through 60 minutes of play…