Feb. 22, 2018
| WEEKEND PREVIEW | |
| 14-13-5 (7-10-5-2 B1G) | 19-13-2 (10-10-2-1 B1G) |
| Friday at 6:30 p.m. | Saturday at 7:00 p.m. | |
| PEGULA ICE ARENA | UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. | |
| GAME DAY CENTRAL |
FRIDAY LIVE COVERAGE |
| Radio: Penn State Sports Network |
| TV: Big Ten Network |
| SATURDAY LIVE COVERAGE Video | Audio | |
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| TV: Big Ten Network |
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| INSIDE THE NUMBERS | ||
| PSU | MINN | |
| 14-13-5 | Overall Record | 19-13-2 |
| 7-10-5-2 | Conference Record | 10-10-2-1 |
| 114 | Goals Scored | 91 |
| 101 | Goals Allowed | 79 |
| 3.56 | Goals Scored/gm. | 2.68 |
| 3.16 | Goals Allowed/gm. | 2.32 |
| 1287 | Shots | 1020 |
| 40.2 | Shots/gm. | 30.0 |
| 197 | Assists | 155 |
| 24-117 | Power Plays | 19-137 |
| .205 | Power-Play Pct. | .139 |
| 90-108 | Penalty Kills | 111-133 |
| .833 | Penalty-Kill Pct. | .835 |
| 887 | Saves | 858 |
| 2 | Shutouts | 5 |
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The 18th-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions close out the 2017-18 regular season when they host No. 8 Minnesota in a pair of Big Ten contests on Friday and Saturday evening.
HOW TO WATCH
- Both games this weekend will air live on the Big Ten Network and are available for streaming on BTN2Go.
- Puck drops Friday night at 6:30 p.m. and Saturday at 7 p.m.
SENIORS TO BE HONORED PREGAME SATURDAY
- The four members of the 2018 senior class, defensemen Erik Autio and Trevor Hamilton, Captain and forward James Robinson and goaltender Matt Erlichman, will each be honored during a brief pregame ceremony prior to Saturday's puck drop.
- Fans are encouraged to be in their seats by 6:30 in order to not miss any of the ceremony.
THIS WEEK'S MATCHUP
- Penn State finally snapped its eight-game winless drought last Saturday at Michigan State and enter the final weekend of the regular season looking to make some movement in both the Big Ten standings and the PairWise rankings.
- The teams will meet for the 20th and 21st time this weekend after splitting their previous series earlier this season in Minneapolis.
- The Gophers hold the all-time series lead at 14-5-0 and are 6-2-0 all-time at Pegula Ice Arena, which is the best record for any visiting team and out of the original six Big Ten members only Minnesota and Ohio State (5-4-1) hold winning records against the Nittany Lions at Pegula.
- Sophomore Denis Smirnov is riding a five-game point-streak against the Gophers and has four goals and five assists for nine career points in seven games against Minnesota. The sophomore scored in each game earlier this season in Minneapolis.
- Junior Andrew Sturtz leads current Nittany Lions with 11 career points against Minnesota on four goals and seven assists and has registered at least one point in three straight contests against the Gophers including a goal in each game earlier this season.
SCOUTING MINNESOTA
- The Gophers enter the weekend 6-1-1 in their last eight games after being swept at home for the first time ever in Big Ten play by Michigan on January 12-13. Overall Minnesota is 19-13-2 and 10-10-2 in the Big Ten. Minnesota is ranked eighth in the latest uscho.com poll.
- Minnesota's offensive numbers are down significantly in 2017-18 compared to last season as they are averaging 1.03 goals per game less and rank 42nd in the nation averaging 2.68 goals per contest.
- With the decrease in offensive production the defense has been forced to step up on occasion and has done so allowing 0.42 goals per game less than in 2016-17 and rank 11th in the nation allowing 2.32 goals per game this season.
- A big reason for the recent surge by the Gophers is sophomore goaltender Mat Robson who has posted a 7-2-1 record this season with a 1.53 goals against average and a .945 save percentage to rank second and third in the nation, respectively, among goalies with at least 10 games played. Robson has allowed two goals or less in nine of his 11 appearances between the pipes.
- On offense the Gophers are led by Rem Pitlick with 26 points on 11 goals and 15 assists while Brent Gates Jr. has also added 11 goals and 25 points and Tyler Sheehy leads the team with 12 goals and has added 12 assists for 24 points.
- Tommy Novak has a team-best 22 assists and Casey Mittelstadt has added eight goals and 16 assists for 24 points.
- Gates Jr. enters the weekend having scored a goal in three straight contests and a point in four straight. His 25 points this season are a career-high.
- Minnesota has struggled all season on the power-play and rank 54th in the nation at just 13.9 percent (19-for-137). On the other side the penalty kill has been much better ranking 13th in the nation at 83.5 percent (111-for-133).
NO WISCONSIN
- Penn State needs a sweep this weekend to have a chance at hosting the first round of the Big Ten Tournament and they also need Wisconsin to drop points in its series against Ohio State.
- If, Penn State sweeps and Wisconsin earns less than six points this weekend, then Penn State will host either Minnesota or Wisconsin next weekend in a best-of-three Big Ten Quarterfinal series.
- Penn State sits in sixth place right now in the Big Ten standings, but a lot of movement could happen this weekend as only Notre Dame (No. 1), Ohio State (No. 2) and Michigan State (No.7) have locked in their positions. Michigan has also locked in home ice for the opening round, but could finish either third or fourth as a Minnesota sweep over Penn State would see the Gophers jump the Wolverines into the third slot.
- Out of 49 possible scenarios this weekend, Penn State will play Minnesota in 27, Michigan in 20 and Wisconsin in two with five of those scenarios of hosting Minnesota and one scenario of hosting Wisconsin.
TWO MINUTES, WELL WORTH IT!
- Sturtz's goal last Saturday came during a 4-on-4 stretch of play and marked the 12th time this season Penn State has scored during a coincidental minor scenario and the second such goal for Sturtz.
- Penn State's 12 goals while 4-on-4 lead the nation by a wide margin as they are five clear of Colgate with seven.
- Sophomore Brandon Biro leads the nation in 4-on-4 scoring with six points on three goals and three assists.
THE MORE POINTS THE BETTER
- Junior Andrew Sturtz has registered 12 multi-point games this season and in those games Penn State is 9-2-1. For his career, Sturtz has 29 multi-point efforts and the Nittany Lions have gone 21-7-1 in those games.
STURTZY BEING STURTZY
- Last Saturday Sturtz became just the second Nittany Lion ever to reach the 100-point milestone for his career. In just his 105th game, Sturtz also became the fastest to do so as David Goodwin '17 took until the 119th game of his career to notch his 100th point.
- For both Sturtz and Goodwin the milestone point came off a secondary assist on a Chase Berger goal to open the scoring in the game. Each player also registered a multi-point effort each night they hit the mark.
- Sturtz is one of just 22 active players across the nation to have at least 100 career points with only seven being members of the junior class and seven members of the Big Ten.
- Sturtz's 53 goals, a Penn State record, tie for the fifth most among active players across the nation.
- Sturtz is currently tied for the Big Ten lead with 37 points, which ranks tied for 10 in the nation while his 24 assists rank tied for fourth in the conference and 12th in the nation.
- Sturtz has also tied his career-high for points from last season with 37, which is tied for the fifth-best single-season output in program history. His 24 assists are also the fifth most in a single-season and just four behind Denis Smirnov's program record of 28.
CHUCK-A-PUCK
- Junior Chase Berger registered his 11th career power-play goal during last Saturday's win to move into a tie with Dylan Richard '17 for second all-time in Penn State history for power-play tallies. He is now just two behind Casey Bailey's program record of 13.
- With 37 career goals, Berger is also just one goal shy of Eric Scheid '16 for fourth on the Penn State all-time goals list. His 50 career assists currently rank second behind Goodwin's program record of 84 while his 87 points place him third all-time behind Goodwin and Sturtz.
KEEPIN' IT 100
- Head Coach Guy Gadowsky secured his 99th career win as Penn State bench boss last Saturday at Michigan State making his next win his 100th and the 100th win for the program.
STRONG FINNISH
- Senior Erik Autio has played in 132 career games, the most by any Penn State defenseman in program history and tying him with Tommy Olczyk '16 for the third most all-time.
- With an assist last weekend at Michigan State Autio also broke the tie with Luke Juha '16 and moved into the all-time lead at Penn State for assists by a defenseman with 46 to tie Dylan Richard for fourth all-time.
- Autio's 54 career points are the second-most by a Nittany Lion blue-liner behind Juha's 60.
UP NEXT
Next weekend begins the new three weekend format for the Big Ten Tournament with a quarterfinal best-of-three series at campus sites. No. 1 Notre Dame received a first-round bye while No. 2 Ohio State will host No. 7 Michigan State and the remaining matchups have yet to be decided.