Michigan
8-2-0, 1-1-0
Penn State
9-1-0, 3-1-0
Fantilli's Overtime Winner Hands No. 13 Penn State First Loss of Season
11/5/2022 10:50:00 PM | Ice Hockey
» Adam Fantilli scored the game-winner and added an assist for his sixth multi-point game.
» Mackie Samoskevich tallied three points with a pair of goals and an assist on Fantilli's game-clinching goal.
» Noah West earned his first win as a Wolverine with a 32-save game (78 saves on the weekend).
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- Adam Fantilli's goal 24 seconds into overtime led the No. 1-ranked University of Michigan ice hockey team to a 4-3 win over No. 13 Penn State on Saturday (Nov. 5) at Pegula Ice Arena.
The Nittany Lions scored three goals in less than four minutes late in the third period to put a scare in the Wolverines, but Fantilli's OT lamp-lighter handed Penn State (9-1-0, 3-1-0 Big Ten) its first loss of the season.
Manning the crease for the second consecutive night was Noah West, and the junior continued his strong play by keeping the Nittany Lions off the board through two periods and earning his first career win in the maize and blue after a 32-save performance on 35 PSU shots. In his two games in place of Erik Portillo, West was outstanding, making 78 saves on 83 shots faced over the course of the series in State College.
Looking to set the tone early on, Mark Estapa dashed into the Penn State end and ripped a shot off the post just four minutes into the game. From that point, Michigan (8-2-0, 1-1-0 Big Ten) began to exert its will for an extended period of time for the first time all weekend.
Penn State took an offensive-zone penalty by hooking Luke Hughes at 7:44 to give Michigan the game's first power-play opportunity. Just over a minute later, Mackie Samoskevich buried his seventh goal of the year after walking into the slot and unleashing a rocket that found the back of the net at 8:36. T.J. Hughes and Dylan Duke assisted on Michigan's first goal of the weekend.
Battling in his own end, Luca Fantilli was penalized for cross-checking below the Michigan goal line to give PSU a power play of its own, but Michigan killed it off.
Back at even strength, the Wolverines flipped a puck into the slot where two skaters in maize and blue were all alone with the Penn State netminder. T.J. Hughes gloved the mid-air pass and dropped it to the ice near the blue paint before flipping a quick shot to the top shelf to give Michigan a 2-0 lead at 12:21. Assists on Hughes' sixth tally of the year went to fellow freshman Seamus Casey and junior forward Philippe Lapointe.
Twenty-five seconds into the second period, play moved to four-on-four when a Nittany Lion was penalized for holding and a Wolverine matched him by taking an embellishment minor.
Duke thought he had notched a third goal for Michigan with 10:47 left in the second period after his redirection of a Keaton Pehrson point shot beat PSU's Liam Souliere, but the referees immediately determined it was not a goal on account of a high stick. U-M chose not to challenge.
Adam Fantilli had a hard-working shift below the dots for the Wolverines, eventually winning the puck behind the PSU net before dishing a short pass out to the netfront where Samoskevich was waiting to finish off the play and put Michigan ahead 3-0 with 2:15 left in the middle period.
Penn State embarked on 47 seconds of a 5-on-3 power play to end the second frame after Jacob Truscott and Adam Fantilli were assessed a pair of minor penalties in succession. The home team was unable to convert before the end of the period, but did carry 40 seconds of a two-man advantage over to the third on a fresh sheet of ice.
Senior captain Nolan Moyle won the opening draw of the third period and the U-M penalty killers never looked back en route to killing off both penalties and returning to even strength. With the twin-killing, Michigan's PK unit moved to a perfect 10-for-10 on the weekend.
Penn State finally got on the board with a rebound goal after a high-pressure shift in Michigan's zone 11:52 into the third period to make it 3-1 with 8:08 left in regulation.
Just over one minute later, the Nittany Lions snuck a rebound opportunity off the end wall past the skate of West to cut the deficit to 3-2 with 6:57 remaining.
After Michigan had re-established a rhythm, a defensive-zone turnover by the Wolverines ended up in the back of U-M's net to tie the game at three goals apiece with 4:09 left on the board. The goal was PSU's third in 3:59 to even things up.
West came up massive for Michigan with a flashy glove save on a gorgeous rebound opportunity as the puck bounced off the end wall and directly to a Nittany Lion's stick with 2:05 to play.
At the end of regulation, the game was tied at three after Penn State outshot U-M by a 14-3 margin in the third stanza to pull even. The teams took a breather while the ice was scraped before returning to the ice for five minutes or less of 3-on-3 overtime.
It turned out to require just 24 seconds. Adam Fantilli, Samoskevich, and Luke Hughes started things off for the Maize and Blue, and the talented trio ended things for U-M before a change was needed. Fantilli ended up getting the goal on a hard shot from the bottom of the left circle, barely off the ice, that found its way through Souliere's pads to earn the extra point for Michigan. Samoskevich and Hughes earned assists on the freshman's OT game-winner, with Samoskevich's three points pacing all skaters.
Next week, the Wolverines continue their road trip with a pair of games at Notre Dame on Friday and Saturday (Nov. 11-12). Puck drop for Friday night's (Nov. 11) game is set for 7:30 p.m., while Saturday's (Nov. 12) contest is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. Both games will be streamed live on Peacock.
