UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – For the third-straight season the two newest NCAA Division I men's ice hockey programs will meet as Arizona State comes to town for a pair of contests on Friday evening at 7 p.m. followed by an 8 p.m. puck drop on Saturday.
FOLLOW THE ACTION
Dates: Friday, November 2 | Saturday, November 3
Place: Pegula Ice Arena
Time: Friday at 7 p.m. | Saturday at 8 p.m.
Tickets: Friday | Saturday
Watch: Friday BTN-Plus ($)| Saturday BTN-Plus ($)
Listen: Friday | Saturday
Live Statistics: Live Stats (Both games)
Game Notes: Penn State
THIS WEEK'S MATCHUP
- Penn State welcomes Arizona State back to Pegula Ice Arena for the second time in the past three seasons for a pair of games over the weekend.
- This marks the third-straight season that the two newest NCAA Division I programs have met as Penn State leads the all-time series 4-0-0 outscoring the Sun Devils 26-6.
- Senior Chris Funkey has two career shutouts to his name and they have both come against ASU with one in each of the past two seasons.
- Last year a two-game sweep in Glendale, Arizona sparked an 11-game unbeaten streak for the Nittany Lions vaulting them back in to the national scene after a slow start to begin the season.
- Junior Brandon Biro registered a pair of one goal, one assist games against ASU last season while classmate Nate Sucese leads all current Nittany Lions with three goals and four assists for seven points against the Sun Devils.
- Junior Denis Smirnov missed both games last season in Arizona, but registered a hat-trick in 2016-17 with four total goals and one assist for five points during a weekend sweep. Junior Liam Folkes has also had good success against Arizona State with one goal and four assists for five points.
- Sophomore classmates Evan Barratt and Sam Sternschein along with senior Derian Hamilton each collected their first career goals against ASU last season in Glendale.
SCOUTING ARIZONA STATE
- The Sun Devils finished 2017-18 just 8-21-5, but are already off to their best start in program history at 6-2-0 as they enter their fourth year as an NCAA Division I program.
- Arizona State returns nine of its top-10 scorers from last season including all three players who registered 20-plus points led by Brinson Pasichnuk who slotted home eight goals while adding 18 assists for 26 points. Brett Gruber led the team with 20 assists while collecting 25 points and Johnny Walker had a team-best 17 goals as a freshman while adding seven assists for 24 points.
- The Sun Devils are coming off a sweep over Nebraska-Omaha where they outscored the Mavericks 13-5 while going 7-for-17 on the power-play including four man-advantage goals by Johnny Walker alone on Saturday night.
- Walker leads the nation with eight goals and 13 points already this season while the Sun Devil power-play ranks 23rd in the nation at 21.7 percent (10-for-46). ASU's 10 power-play tallies are currently tied for the third most in the nation through the opening month of play.
- The Sun Devils also rank sixth in the nation on the penalty kill at 92.9 percent allowing just three goals in 42 chances. Those 42 power-plays against are the most in the nation as ASU is averaging 8.4 penalties per game.
- Arizona State also returns starting goaltender Joey Daccord who has started all eight games this season posting a .949 save percentage and a 1.51 goals against average to rank tenth and 15th in the nation, respectively.
STRETCH LIMO
- Sophomore Alex Limoges is currently riding a four-game point-streak (3-3-6) which is just one game shy of his career long streak of five games from the end of last season.
- Limoges has seven goals and seven assists for 14 points in his last 11 games dating back to last season while recording at least one point in nine of those contests.
POSSESSION IS NINE-TENTHS OF THE LAW
- Penn State has improved on its faceoff percentage drastically after ranking 44th in the nation in 2017-18. During the first six games this season the Nittany Lions are winning 63.9 percent of their draws up from just 48.2 percent last season.
- The Nittany Lions won 46-of-67 face-offs last week against Princeton led by Ludvig Larsson and Chase Berger who went 20-3 and 11-4 at the dot, respectively.
- Larsson currently leads the entire nation winning 73-of-92 face-offs (79.3 percent) over the first six games. Berger has also elevated his success this season winning the draw 61.5 percent of the time, up from 49.1 percent last season.
IT WILL KILL
- Penn State's penalty kill is currently ninth in the nation at 89.5 percent allowing just two man-advantage goals. Prior to allowing a power-play goal in the third period last Friday the Nittany Lions had killed 17-straight penalties after allowing a goal on the first power-play of the season against Clarkson back on October 10.
200 FOOT GAME
- Early in the season Penn State has excelled on both ends of the ice averaging 5.00 goals per game while only allowing 1.80 goals on the defensive end ranking them second and ninth in the nation, respectively, among teams with at least four games played.
- Penn State is also leading the nation averaging 21.00 blocked shots per game led by junior Kris Myllari who has 24 blocks in five games with his 4.80 blocks per game pacing the nation.
BONES JONES
- Junior goaltender Peyton Jones became the all-time leader at Penn State for starts by a goaltender after making the 74th start of his career in net last Friday passing Matt Skoff '16.
- Jones is also now just 144 saves behind Skoff's Penn State record of 2,114 recorded from 2012-16.
- Jones earned Big Ten Third Star of the Week accolades this past Tuesday securing his fifth career weekly award and the first this season. Jones currently leads the Big Ten with a .963 save percentage and a 1.33 goals against averaging ranking fifth and ninth in the nation, but second and fourth based on minutes and games played.
CHASE-ING RECORDS
- Senior captain Chase Berger continues to make his way up the all-time games played list at Penn State where he now sits tied for eighth with 120 games under his belt.
- Berger is currently second on the team with six points this season on three goals and three assists.
- Berger became just the fourth player in program history to hit the 40 career goals mark a few weeks ago and he is also now just five points shy of becoming the third Nittany Lion to reach 100 points.
- The senior's 95 career points rank third in the Big Ten and ninth in the nation among active players.
HOME IS WHERE YOU MAKE IT
- With five consecutive victories to open the 2018-19 season, Penn State has now won nine consecutive games inside Pegula Ice Arena dating back to last season's four-straight victories over Minnesota to close out the season.
- The nine-straight home wins are the second best stretch in program history behind the 12-straight victories achieved from October 28, 2016 through January 14, 2017.
- During this current stretch, The Nittany Lions have scored at least five goals in seven of the nine games while outscoring opponents 46-20 averaging 5.11 goals per contest while allowing just 2.22 goals per game.
- Penn State's early 2018-19 goal differential of +16 ranks fourth in the nation behind Bowling Green's +24 mark. Arizona State currently sits in third at +17. Through the first five games of their season, the Nittany Lions 5.00 goals per game ranks second in the nation among teams with at least five games played. ASU currently sits in 12th scoring 3.75 goals per game in its first eight contests.
FOUR MORE
- Joining Limoges on four-game point streaks are junior Nikita Pavlychev, sophomore Evan Barratt and freshman Aarne Talvitie. For Pavlychev it ties his career-high while marking new career-highs for Barratt and Talvitie.
- Dating back to the end of last year, Barratt has registered at least one point in six of his last eight games scoring four goals while adding seven assists for 11 points in his last eight games.
NEXT UP
- Penn State plays a home-and-home series against instate foe Robert Morris next weekend with a game at Pegula Ice Arena at 7 p.m. Friday night before traveling to Bobby Mo for the series finale on 7 p.m. Saturday night.