The Ice Lions had not been able to score in front of Eric Semborski all afternoon.
A 2-on-1 odd man rush breathed new life into Penn State as forward Ryan Urban scored with 45 seconds left in overtime.
Ice Lions forward Christopher Lewis fed a short pass in front of Semborski to Urban for the 3-2 win over the Owls Sunday at the Northeast Skate Zone.
Prior to that tally, the defense had been able to keep rebounds off Ice Lions sticks and broke up short passes in front of Semborski.
Penn’s state’s goal came minutes after a failed Temple power-play opportunity. The missed opportunity was a product of the Owls’ struggles all afternoon as they finished 0 for 7 on the day with the man advantage.
“We were getting a lot of shots, but not a lot of rebounds,” senior captain Greg Malinowski said. “We need to get the rebounds. There’s no excuse we need to capitalize [on power plays], especially in overtime.”
The Owls took the Ice Lions to the brink with the extra period with Penn State holding the shots advantage, 43-36. Temple also held its opponent to a 0-for-4 afternoon on the power play for the second straight game.
“We played to the best of our ability,” Malinowski said. “This has to be the mental aspect of our game to stay out of the box. It is a constant problem.”
The game took a controversial twist during a third-period Temple power play.
Penn State goalie Michal DeGeatano lost his stick during a scrum in front of his net and appeared to take a shot off the mask. DeGeatano proceeded to remove his helmet seconds before a Temple goal.
DeGeatano fired his teammate’s stick in the air in disgust after the goal, but the officials ruled to disallow the goal because of the helmet coming off prior to the goal.
The referee told Owls coach Ryan Frain that he thought the helmet’s release was helped by DeGeatano, but declined to call a penalty.
“I countered with, ‘Well, if you’re telling me you saw it then there should probably be a delay of game or some kind of minor penalty and we should get another shot at the power play,’” Frain said.
Penn State forward Abraham Edson took advantage of the no-call and scored on a slap shot from the point to even the score at two goals apiece. The goal came following a penalty kill by the Owls, in which Malinowski blocked two goals and forward Brett Woyshner blocked another.
“It sucks when you do everything you possibly can to keep the puck out and in the last couple seconds of the power play they score,” Malinowski said.
Temple defenseman Jason Lombardi scored on a similar wrist shot during a 4-on-4 situation in the first period.
Penn State answered at the start of the second period when forward Taylor Vincent scored off a pass from defenseman Brent Antolik. The Ice Lions kicked off the period with a quick pace, but Temple rebounded to match Penn State’s play for the rest of the period.
Owls forward Stephen Kennedy caught the Ice Lions napping at the start of the third period when he fired a slap shot for the 2-1 lead. A Penn State player allowed the puck to hop over his stick off a dump in and Kennedy took advantage.
This was the sixth straight time the Owls have fallen to their cross-state rival. The last time the Owls beat the Ice Lions was during the 2010-11 conference semifinals. George Rutter scored in triple-overtime on the way to seal Temple’s trip to the American Collegiate Hockey Association National tournament.
The loss snaps a three-game win streak for the Owls, but they’ll have another shot at the Ice Lions on Nov. 22 in State College. Temple’s next game is at Monmouth on Nov. 1.
Stephen Godwin Jr. can be reached at stephen.godwin@temple.edu or twitter @StephenGodwinJr.
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