Win puts Lions in semifinals
From Mirror reports
DETROIT, Mich. — Four different Penn State Nittany Lions found the back of the net in a 4-1 win over Michigan Thursday night in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals at Joe Louis Arena.
Penn State moved into tonight’s semifinals against top-seeded Minnesota at 8 p.m. This marks the first-ever postseason matchup between the two teams.
Penn State improved to 22-11-2, while the Wolverines ended their season at 13-19-3.
Penn State opened the scoring with a power-play tally as freshman Brandon Biro skated behind the Michigan net and fed classmate Liam Folkes on the left side of the crease for the 1-0 lead at 10:50.
The Nittany Lions extended the lead as freshman Denis Smirnov skated through the right slot and fed a backhand pass across ice to find classmate Nate Sucese for the backdoor tap-in at 13:24 for the 2-0 lead.
Sophomore Alec Marsh then broke into the offensive zone along the far side half wall and fed the puck to senior David Goodwin in the right slot and the captain picked the far side beating Wolverine goalie Zach Nagelvoort to the blocker side for the 3-0 lead at 19:31 of the opening period.
Sophomore Vince Pedrie wasted little time in the second period pushing the Penn State lead to 4-0 as he let loose a one-timer from the left point right off the faceoff.
That goal made him the most prolific scoring defenseman in Penn State history with his 16th career tally at 1:03 of the middle frame.
James Sanchez got Michigan on the board with a power play tally at 10:19 of the second period for the 4-1 score.
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