Penn State outlasts No. 6 North Dakota, 6-4, in Nashville; UNH, Clarkson knock off ranked opponents; McKay sets NCAA shutout mark

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Connor MacEachern celebrates his first of two goals as Penn State upset No. 6 North Dakota, 6-4, at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville (Photo: Russell Hons/North Dakota Athletics)

It was quite possibly the least neutral “neutral-site” game you could imagine, but that didn’t bother Penn State.

Despite playing around a sea of green-clad North Dakota fans at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Penn State jumped to an early lead that it never relinquished, earning a hard-fought 6-4 victory over the Fighting Hawks in the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Game.

Connor MacEachern scored twice for the Nittany Lions including a back-breaking insurance goal with 4:08 remaining while goaltender Oskar Autio made 28 stops to earn the victory.

MacEachern’s second tally proved important as the Fighting Hawks pulled their goaltender and closed the gap to one with 2:01 left on a Riese Gaber goal. Ben Copeland’s empty-net goal with four seconds left provided the final tally.

The game was a wild, back-and-forth offensive affair, particularly over the first 40 minutes.

Penn State jumped to a 2-0 lead early on goals by Tyler Gratton at 4:02 of the first followed by a Clayton Phillips tally less than nine minutes later.

But North Dakota had an answer before the end of the frame. Judd Caufield scored on the power play with 1:50 remaining to bring the highly-partisan Fighting Hawks crowd to life.

The teams traded goals in the second with Penn State twice extending the lead to two goals only to have North Dakota respond. It again was a late-period power play goal, this one by Jake Schmaltz with just 10.7 seconds remaining that set up the exciting third period.

Prior to the game, it was announced that North Dakota will again participate in next year’s U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame game to be played Oct. 29, 2022 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The opponent in that game will be Arizona State.

SCOREBOARD  |  USCHO.com POLL

New Hampshire 2, No. 8 Providence 1 (OT)

A night after falling, 6-1, on the road to No. 8 Providence, New Hampshire exacted its revenge on home ice as Jackson Pierson’s unassisted goal with 19.5 second remaining in overtime gave the Wildcats a 2-1 victory.

Pierson anticipated a pass by a Providence player who was under pressure, picked off the puck and roofed a backhander over Friars netminder Jaxson Stauber to send the Wildcat faithful home happy.

UNH never trailed on the night, jumping to a 1-0 lead on Tyler Ward’s goal at 3:11 into the game. Providence evened the game on a Parker Ford tally at 7:21 of the middle frame.

David Fessenden, who came into the game on Friday night in relief of starter Mike Robinson, earned the victory in his first collegiate start making 31 saves.

Clarkson 2, No. 18 Michigan Tech 1

Another team able to avenge a tough Friday night loss, Clarkson scored twice in 64 seconds late in the second period to overcome a 1-0 deficit against No. 18 Michigan Tech, earning a 2-1 victory.

The Golden Knights were shutout on Friday, falling 3-0, and were struggling to solve the Huskies defense and goaltender for much of Saturday. But Anthony Romano’s shot on the rush with 1:46 left in the second followed by Chris Klack’s goal with 18 second remaining in the middle frame turned the game upside down.

Clarkson improves to 4-2-0 on the young season and will being ECAC play next weekend against Rensselaer and Union.

No. 3 Minnesota State 7, Northern Michigan 0

Senior goaltender Dryden McKay is now officially the all-time Division I men’s shutout leader.

McKay needed to make just 15 shots on the evening, while his team provided plenty of offense in front as No. 3 Minnesota State completed a two-game sweep of Northern Michigan with a 7-0 victory.

It was the 27th shootout of McKay’s career, one better than Michigan State’s Ryan Miller, who posted 26 from 1999-2002 at Michigan State.

The victory also moved McKay into a tie for first in all-time wins for a Minnesota State goaltender, matching Steve Carroll’s mark of 81 from 1977-1981.

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