Felikss Gavars was able to strike first at 11:11 of the first period, but a pair of second period goals and a pair of late goals in the third sent the St. Lawrence University men's hockey team to a 4-1 loss on Friday night in Appleton Arena.   
 
St. Lawrence fell to 1-2-0 to wrap up their first homestand of the season, While the Nittany Lions improved to 3-0-0 on the season.
 
During their second home game in as many nights, the Scarlet and Brown got off on the right foot against Penn State, creating quality scoring chances, and fighting hard for the puck. 
 
Near the midway point of the first period, Jan Lasak brought the puck up the ice after a Nittany Lion turnover. The puck would go to captain Josh Boyer, who would eventually find Gavars in between the circles. Gavars, with a defender on him, sent a scorching shot low and through a screen to beat Laim Souliere to take the 1-0 lead.
 
St. Lawrence went into the intermission up 1-0 on the Lions, with the shots dead even at 13 apiece.


 
The Nittany Lions came out firing during the second period of play, challenging Skating Saints' goaltender Ben Kraws, who was perfect with 13 saves in the first. 
 
Penn State would breakthrough at 4:41 of the second period when a turnover transitioned into the Saints' end where Jacques Bouquot would tie up the contest with a shot from the right circle.
 
Penalties would finally catch up to the Saints' who were sent to the box five times in the first 30 minutes of the game.
 
Jarod Crespo would take advantage of the fifth man-advantage burying Xander Lamppa feed to give Penn State the lead.  
 
St. Lawrence thought they were going to head on the power play much later as the team challenged a hit from behind during the action. The officials decided on no penalty on the boarding as the Saints lost their timeout.
 
The Saints came out firing in the third searching for the equalizer, getting nine shots off in the first nine minutes of action.
 
The Nittany Lions would respond turning momentum to their favor and eventually would double their lead with 4:54 left in the game. Ryan Kirwan was able to score on the effort to make it a 3-1 game with time winding down.
 
With the two-goal deficit, the Saints pulled the netminder for an extra-attacker, but to no avail as Alex Servagno buried an empty-net goal to put the contest out of reach.
 
Penn State held a 39-25 edge in shots, and had five power plays to the Saints' two, one of which was 37 seconds long. The Nittany Lions went 1-for-5 on the man advantage, while the Scarlet and Brown went 0-for-2.

Kraws finished the night with 35 saves on 38 shots in the St. Lawrence goal, while Souliere made 24 on the other end. 
 
The Skating Saints will head out next weekend for their first road game of the 2023-24 season. The Scarlet and Brown will make the drive down to North Andover, Mass. on Sunday, October 22 to take on Merrimack at 4:00 p.m.