He heard it from the student section as he skated to the penalty box at 4:05 of the third period with the Nittany Lions trailing 2-0. Forward Nicholas Chin-DeGraves bailed him out by scoring a short-handed goal at 5:29 to cut the deficit to 2-1.
“I let my emotions get to me on that penalty,” McKenna said. “Obviously, you don’t want to take that penalty, but we scored on it. Shout out to ‘Graves.’ And, yeah, I think I’ve learned to deal with it. It’s going to be something I’ve got to learn all year, to just stay calm and not let it get to me.”
Gadowsky was not worried about it.
“That is why he came here, to get bigger, stronger,” Gadowsky said. “But give him some time. I’ll tell you what; I thought his play without the puck was really, really good all weekend. Like, I underestimated how good he was with that, so he’s coming. And trust me, he’s getting bigger and stronger every week. Give him a couple months.”
Forward JJ Wiebusch tied it 2-2 at 8:30 of the third, and when the Nittany Lions got a power play late in the period, it became a made-for-NHL Network moment. Defenseman Mac Gadowsky, the coach’s son, sent a pass from left to right for McKenna.
“Great pass by Mac cross ice, and boy, did he …” the coach said, his voice trailing off for a moment. “Oh, my God, did he label that.”
McKenna made no mistake.
“Obviously, it was a big power play,” McKenna said. “I saw Mac. He was looking to hit me, and he hit the seam. I shot it, tried to pick my spot and saw it was in the back of the net.”