A couple of miscues cost the Clarkson University Hockey team dearly in the consolation game of the Three Rivers Classic as 14th/15th-ranked Penn State overcame a strong outing by the Golden Knights to gain a 5-1 victory on Tuesday evening at the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh, PA.

Clarkson, which has dropped four straight to fall to 7-8-2 overall, will face a stiff challenge to start the New Year when it continues on the current road trip playing at 12/13th-ranked Bowling Green State University in Ohio for a two-game series on Saturday (7:07pm) and Sunday (5:07pm).

The Nittany Lions (12-3-3) outshot the Knights by a slim 39-37 margin, but Clarkson enjoyed a 17-7 shot-advantage in the second period. After junior Troy Josephs scored the Green and Gold's only goal of the weekend midway through the middle frame to cut Penn State's lead to 3-1, Clarkson looked poised to take control of the game in the third period, and entered the final 20 minutes on the power play.

The Nittany Lions, however, stole back the momentum to start the third when Eric Scheid capitalized on a sloppy play by the Knights at the blueline and broke in for a shorthanded goal to give Penn State a 4-1 lead just 38 seconds in.

Connor Varley closed out the scoring with Penn State's fifth goal at 14:45.

A mistake behind the Clarkson net led to Penn State's first goal as Kenny Brooks tallied at 7:33 of the opening stanza.

The Nittany Lions' second goal came from David Thompson when his shot deflected off the cross bar and dropped behind Clarkson's junior goaltender Steve Perry and over the goal line with 14 seconds left in the opening frame.

Penn State added to its lead with a power-play goal from David Goodwin at 7:28 of the second period for a 3-0 advantage.

Josephs, a Pittsburgh Penguins draft choice, deflected in a shot from the point by sophomore defenseman Terrance Amorosa at 12:56 for his second of the year, cutting Penn State's lead to two goals. Senior Pat Megannety also assisted.

Perry made 34 saves, including a career-high 20 stops over the final 20 minutes. Penn State's Matthew Skoff finished with 36 saves.

Clarkson continued to struggle on the power play to see its scoreless stretch with the man-advantage go to 0-of-35 after a 0-of-5 outing against the Nittany Lions.

Josephs was named to the Three Rivers Classic All-Tournament Team.