Spartans Topple Penn State, 5-1

EAST LANSING -- Jagger Joshua scored his first two goals of the season and Drew DeRidder made 36 saves as the Michigan State hockey team beat Penn State, 5-1, in a matinee game on Monday at Munn Ice Arena. Gianluca Esteves and Brody Stevens also scored their first goals of the season, while Mitchell Lewandowski added an empty-netter in the final minutes.

"It was a great effort by our guys," MSU head coach Danton Cole said. "I was proud of the guys – they battled hard figured out a way. Getting out to a 2-0 lead was good and we dealt with a lot of pressure and handled it well.

"There's a decent hockey team in there. We're getting there, we're going to keep improving and there were a lot of good things over this weekend. The guys earned the win tonight and it was a lot of fun."

Joshua gave MSU (4-4-2, 3-4-1-2-0-0) a 1-0 lead just 2:25 into the game. Mitchell Mattson threw the puck from the left circle between two defenders to Joshua on the right side. Joshua was able to make a move and backhand the puck into the top corner on the short side for his first of the season.

Esteves made it 2-0 2:38 later. Austin Kamer started the play by gaining possession of the puck in front of the MSU net and quickly getting it to Dennis Cesana. From the left circle in the MSU end, Cesana rifled a pass to Esteves, who took it in the neutral zone and raced into the PSU end. Esteves wound up and let go a slap shot from the top of the left circle and it beat goaltender Liam Souliere high in the far corner.

Penn State (4-6, 2-6-0-0-0-0) scored on the power play 6:20 into the second period to make it a 2-1 game courtesy of Alex Limoges.

There were a pair of major penalties in the game, the first of which went to Penn State. The Spartans were able to take advantage on the ensuing power play with Joshua getting his second of the game. Nash Nienhuis got the puck from Kristof Papp and let go a wrist shot from the left circle that Joshua was able get a stick on and deflect past Souliere.

"Obviously I haven't scored all year so it's always good to score a goal, especially when you're going through a drought," Joshua said. "To get another one and help the team out and build the lead a bit felt even better."

The Spartans killed their own 5-minute major penalty near the end of the second and the remaining 1:04 to start the third.

Brody Stevens was able to extend the MSU lead to 4-1 when he got the puck from Nico Muller off a faceoff in the PSU end and put it past Souliere with 5:45 to play.

Penn State pulled Souliere for the extra attacker minutes later and Lewandowski scored on the empty net with 2:15 to play.

DeRidder stopped all 13 shots he faced in the third period.

The Spartans will face Michigan in a home-and-home series this coming weekend. The two teams will meet on Friday in Ann Arbor at 7 p.m. and the following night in East Lansing at 4:30 p.m. Saturday's game will be televised by BTN.

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Team Stats

Jagger Joshua

Kristof Papp

Dennis Cesana

Mitchell Lewandowski

Players Mentioned

Dennis Cesana

Gianluca Esteves

Jagger Joshua

Mitchell Lewandowski

Nash Nienhuis

Kristof Papp

Brody Stevens

Players Mentioned

Dennis Cesana

Gianluca Esteves

Jagger Joshua

Mitchell Lewandowski

Nash Nienhuis

Kristof Papp

Brody Stevens