Penn State men's hockey team scores 5 unanswered goals to down Maine

The Nittany Lions advance to their second regional final in the past three years and third overall and a date with Connecticut at 4:30 p.m. Sunday. The game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN2.

Maine opened the scoring on a strange bouncing puck as a shot from the point by Bodie Nobes hit a Nittany Lion out front and then went off the stick of another before jolting up into the air and over the shoulder of Penn State junior netminder Arsenii Sergeev for the 1-0 advantage at 4:08 of the first period.

The Nittany Lions evened the contest just 64 ticks later with a power-play tally as sophomore Aiden Fink sent a beautiful cross-ice pass to freshman JJ Wiebusch and he didn't miss for the 1-all score at the 5:04 mark.

Penn State grabbed then grabbed the lead with a beautiful transition goal as DiMarsico sniped a shot over the glove of Black Bear goaltender Albin Boija off crisp passing from freshman classmates Wiebusch and Charlie Cerrato for the 2-1 edge at the 14:26 mark.

Penn State extended the lead late in the opening frame with another power-play goal as Dowiak crashed the net and redirected a shot from senior Danny Dzhaniyev past Boija for the 3-1 margin at the 18:08 mark.

The Nittany Lions pushed the lead further in the second period as a defensive zone turnover by Maine resulted in a perfect pass from Cerrato for a one-time blast by DiMarsico in the low slot for the 4-1 lead at the 5:41 mark.

Dowiak then hit the empty net after winning a battle on the near half wall and racing down the ice to deposit the puck at 16:37 of the third period to account for the 5-1 final.

Sergeev improves to 18-8-4 on the year after making 26 saves in the victory while Boija finishes the year 23-8-6 after stopping 29 shots in the loss.

Sergeev's 18 wins are tied with Peyton Jones '20 for the third-most in a single-season by a Nittany Lion goaltender.

Penn State held the 34-27 edge in shots on goal, while going 2-for-5 on the powerplay and a perfect 2-for-2 on the penalty kill.

Penn State now has at least one power-play goal in seven-straight games and 10 of the past 12.

Wiebusch and Cerrato both extend their career long point streaks to seven games while the former now has a four-game goal streak. Both players also collect their eighth and 14th multi-point efforts, respectively.

With three assists, Cerrato ties his career high for points and assists while becoming just the second freshman all-time to hit the 40-point mark joining Denis Smirnov's phenomenal 47-point freshman campaign in 2016-17.

Dowiak secures his third multi-goal game of the season and the fourth of his career while registering his fourth multi-point effort of the year and the fifth of his career.

With a pair of goals, DiMarsico collects his second multi-goal game of the season and the second of his career while marking his seventh multi-point effort of the year and the 13th of his career.

With one assist, senior Simon Mack moves into third alone on the Penn State all-time scoring list by defenseman with 63 points breaking a tie with Kris Myllari '20.

Penn State improves to 3-3 all-time in NCAA Tournament games while advancing to its third regional final in four NCAA Tournament appearances.

The Nittany Lions have outscored their opponents a combined 13-1 over their past two regional semifinal games moving to 3-1 all-time in NCAA opening round contests.