Tarek Baker (Photo by David Stluka)
The number-15 Wisconsin men’s hockey team got the new year off to a slow start, falling 5-1 to number-14 Penn State on Friday night at Pegula Ice Arena.
The Badgers (10-10-2, 4-6-1-0 Big Ten) allowed a power-play and short-handed goal in the loss. Penn State (12-7-2, 5-4-2 Big Ten) outshot the Badgers 32-26.
The Nittany Lions took a 2-0 lead by the 9:00 mark of the first period, scoring one of its goals on the man advantage 1:36 into the game.
Penn State, leading 2-0 after one period, scored 11 seconds into the second period and added a fourth goal before Wisconsin made a change in goal. Kyle Hayton came on in relief of sophomore Jack Berry.
Hayton made 17 saves the rest of the way and didn’t allow a goal. Penn State would get its fifth goal into an empty net.
Freshman forward Tarek Baker scored the Badgers’ only tally at the 11:54 mark of the final period.
The two teams close out the series at 6 p.m. (CT) on Saturday night.