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No. 11 MHKY Closes Out Regular Season at Michigan

March 9, 2017

WEEKEND PREVIEW


21-9-2
(10-7-1-0 B1G)		11-18-3
(4-12-2-0 B1G)
Friday at 7:35 p.m. | Saturday at 7:35 p.m.
YOST ICE ARENA | ANN ARBOR, Mich.
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INSIDE THE NUMBERS
PSU
MICH

21-9-2Overall Record11-18-3
10-7-1-0Conference Record4-12-2
135Goals Scored84
87Goals Allowed105
4.22Goals Scored/gm.2.62
2.72Goals Allowed/gm.3.28
1444Shots863
45.1Shots/gm.27.0
225Assists122
31-148Power Plays25-123
.209Power-Play Pct..203
99-118Penalty Kills121-150
.839Penalty-Kill Pct..807
771Saves1031
3Shutouts3

ANN ARBOR, Mich. - The No. 11 Penn State Nittany Lions travel to the University of Michigan this weekend to close out the 2016-17 regular season with a pair of 7:35 p.m. contests against the Wolverines at Yost Ice Arena.

THIS WEEK'S MATCHUP

  • Following a Nittany Lion sweep earlier this season in Hockey Valley the all-time series is now tied at 8-8-0. The sweep snapped a five-game losing streak against the Wolverines.

LAST TIME THEY MET

  • Penn State outscored Michigan 11-2 in their December series as Andrew Sturtz scored three goals while Denis Smirnov added one goal and four assists over the weekend.
  • David Goodwin added a pair of assists during the sweep and now has five goals and 11 assists for 16 points against the Wolverines during his four years at Penn State.

GOODWIN NAMED B1G THIRD STAR

  • Senior David Goodwin became the sixth different Nittany Lion to earn weekly recognition this past week as he was named the Big Ten Conference's Third Star of the Week. It marks the 12th different weekly award captured by Penn State so far this season and Goodwin's fifth career weekly accolade.
  • The Captain tied a career-high with four points on two goals and two assists during a 6-0 victory over Wisconsin just one night after seeing his career-long 10-game point-streak snapped.
  • Goodwin, who is already the program's all-time leader in games played (140), points (125) and assists (82), is now just two goals shy of tying Casey Bailey's career goals record of 45.

SMIRNOV, ICING THE COMPETITION

  • Denis Smirnov leads all freshman across the nation with 43 points, which is good for 13th overall and third in the Big Ten. His 26 assists is also third in the Big Ten and second among rookies in the nation while his 17 goals leads all Big Ten freshman and is fourth in the nation for first year players.
  • Smirnov has already set the Penn State freshman record for assists and points and is just one goal shy of Andrew Sturtz's rookie mark of 18 set last season.
  • With his first assist last Saturday the Moscow, Russia native also set a new Penn State single-season program record for points passing Casey Bailey's previous mark of 40 set two season's ago. The rookie is also just one assist shy of tying David Goodwin's single-season record of 27 set just last season.

FEELIN' TWENTY-TWO

  • While Andrew Sturtz' single-season freshman record for goals is in jeopardy, he is closing in on the all-time single-season Penn State record of 22 held by Casey Bailey.
  • The second-year right-wing potted a pair of goals last Friday night giving him 21 on the year as he became just the second Penn State player to register a 20-goal season. Over his first two seasons in Hockey Valley, the Buffalo, N.Y. native has already recorded eight two-goal games including five this season.
  • His 21 goals are second in the Big Ten and good for tied-eighth in the country.

GOING STREAKING

  • This season has seen many different streaks so far, from a 13-game unbeaten streak and 11-game winning streak to a five-game winless streak and everything in between.
  • Along the way both Smirnov and Goodwin set a new Penn State point-streak record of 10-games. Smirnov did it in his first 10 NCAA games and Goodwin most recently through the month of February.
  • However, the longest active streak on the team now is that of Nate Sucese. The freshman has registered at least one point in eight straight contests since being paired with Smirnov and Goodwin on the top line. Sucese has scored six goals and added seven assists for 13 points during this career-long streak.
  • With 14 goals and 15 assists on the season for 29 points, Sucese also ranks tied for 12th in the nation in freshman scoring and fourth in the Big Ten. If it wasn't for Smirnov's incredible scoring rate, Sucese would be the Penn State single-season record holder for points by a freshman as he too has eclipsed the previous record of 27, which was held by Casey Bailey and Andrew Sturtzentering the season.

RECORDS ARE MEANT TO BE BROKEN

  • In a season that has seen many different records either broken or tied already, the Nittany Lions are on the verge of setting a few more this weekend.
  • This weekend Penn State could eclipse their single-season records for goals (140), assists (226) and points (366), which were all set during the 2015-16 season. Currently the Nittany Lions have scored 135 goals while adding 225 assists for 360 points.
  • Come Big Ten Tournament time, Penn State will also pass their single-season shot total from last season of 1,579 to set another program record as they currently sit at 1,444.

THE FINNISH-ER

  • Junior defenseman Erik Autio has missed only six games in his entire career and last weekend became the 12th Nittany Lion to reach the 100-game milestone.
  • The Finnish blue-liner is also riding a three-game point streak, which ties a career-high as he has notched an assist in three-straight contests.
  • Autio also leads the Big Ten and is second in the entire nation in plus/minus with a plus-27 rating only trailing the plus-28 of Union's Spencer Foo. Autio has been on the ice for 45 goals for and only 18 goals against.

SPECIAL TEAMS RESURGENCE

  • After a special teams lull during the month of January and beginning of February, Penn State has come back strong and have scored at least one power-play goal in four straight contests (5-for-18).
  • The Lions have also held their opponents without a man-advantage tally for the last five (11-for-11 on the PK) including killing off their second major penalty on the season without allowing a single shot on Friday night.
  • Penn State currently ranks 13th in the nation on the PP at 20.9 % (31-148) while their PK is 22nd at 83.9 percent (99-118). The Nittany Lions are also just two power play goals shy of tying their single-season record of 33 set last season.

SCOUTING MICHIGAN

  • Michigan enters the weekend winners of two of their last three games including a 1-0 shutout over Ohio State and a 5-3 win over Minnesota last weekend. Overall, the Wolverines are 11-18-3 and 4-12-2 in conference play.
  • Senior goaltender Zach Nagelvoort picked up the victory in each of those contests and now leads the goaltending trio with a .915 save percentage and a 3.03 goals against average and a 5-5-1 record. Freshman Hayden Lavigne is 5-6-1 on the season with a .909 save percentage and a 3.00 goals against average.
  • Michigan is paced on offense by Jake Slaker's 21 points and Tony Calderone's 12 goals, but rank 43rd in the nation in scoring offense averaging just 2.62 goals per game, which is fifth in the Big Ten only above Michigan State (2.50).
  • The Wolverines are also 45th in the nation in goals allowed per game as they give up 3.28 per contest.
  • Their power-play ranks 19th (20.3 percent) while their PK places them 40th (80.7 percent).
  • Michigan is on the verge of having their lowest win total since the 1985-86 season when they went 12-26-0.

NEXT TIME OUT

  • Penn State will travel to Joe Louis Arena in Detroit for the Big Ten Conference tournament next Thursday-Saturday.
  • With a sweep of Michigan and an Ohio State sweep of Wisconsin the Nittany Lions will earn the No. 2 seed and a first round bye.
  • As they sit now Penn State is two points clear of Ohio State for third and five points back of Wisconsin for second.