UNIVERSITY PARK, Penn. — Penn State’s defense of its first Big Ten tournament championship continues thanks to freshman forward Evan Barratt’s 11th goal of the year at 11:25 of the third period, providing a 6-5 win and sweep of visiting fifth seed Minnesota in front of 5,025 fans at Pegula Ice Arena.
The fourth-seeded Nittany Lions took a 2-0 lead into the first intermission after an early goal by senior defenseman Trevor Hamilton just 16 seconds in and sophomore forward Liam Folkes’ 12th goal of the season at 13:01. Freshman forward Casey Mittelstadt cut the Golden Gophers deficit in half with an unassisted power play tally at 2:06 of the second, but Barratt put the Nittany Lions lead back to two goals with a tally just two minutes, 31 seconds later.
Minnesota did not quit and kept charging back with three markers in a row by junior forward Jack Ramsey at 9:31, sophomore forward Rem Pitlick at 12:48, and freshman forward Scott Reedy at 15:21. Penn State senior forward James Robinson scored at 17:50 to make the game level at 4-4 after two periods. The Golden Gophers outshot Penn State 18-9 in the middle stanza.
Reedy struck again four minutes into the third on assists from Mittelstadt and Pitlick, but Penn State sophomore forward Brandon Biro knotted the score at five goals apiece at 7:54.
Sophomore goaltender Peyton Jones made 35 saves in the win for the Nittany Lions while junior Eric Schierhorn made 29 for the Golden Gophers.