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COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Penn State Nittany Lions hoped to nail down an at-large bid to the upcoming NCAA Tournament and a trip to Allentown for the Regionals in two weeks with a strong showing in the Big Ten Conference postseason.
After getting bounced in overtime by rival Ohio State Saturday night, the Nittany Lions will be scoreboard watching for its chance.
Fifth-seeded and No. 11-ranked Penn State lost 4-3 to the Buckeyes as Gunnarwolfe Fontaine capitalized on a neutral zone turnover and buried a shot on a breakaway through the five-hole of Nittany Lion goaltender Arsenii Sergeev for the overtime winner at the 14:31 mark.
Ohio State, the third seed and ranked No. 10, travel to East Lansing, Mich., to face No. 2 Michigan State, a 1-0 winner over Notre Dame on Saturday, on March 22 in the Big Ten championship game.
The Buckeyes (24-12-2) opened the scoring midway through the opening period as Fontaine redirected a shot from Aiden Hansen-Bukata that slipped past Sergeev for a 1-0 lead at the 10:37 mark.
Penn State (20-13-4) evened the score early in the second period as Ben Schoen jammed one in at the near post at the 2:08 mark. The Nittany Lions went up 2-1 near the midway point of the second stanza with a power-play goal as Aiden Fink one-touched the puck across the crease and JJ Wiebusch didn't miss at the 9:05 mark.
Ohio State knotted the score near the midpoint of the third period as Nathan Lewis batted a puck out of the air in the net mouth and into the back of the net, originally ruled no-goal on the ice, but after a Buckeye challenge the officials awarded the goal at the 9:19 mark.
Ohio State regained the lead off an odd-man rush as Patrick Guzzo converted a pass from Jake Dunlap past Sergeev for the 3-2 lead at 11:36 of the third period.
Penn State got the equalizer as Matt DiMarsico slipped a rebound into the net after Carter Schade sent the puck toward the net from the blueline at 14:05 of the final frame.
Ohio State held a 42-34 edge in shots on goal and converted on its lone powerplay chance in the first period while going 1-for-1 on the penalty kill. Penn State now has at least one power-play goal in six-straight games and nine of the last 11.