COLUMBUS, Ohio – The sixth-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions will have their first true road trip of the season this weekend as they travel to Ohio State to battle the fifth-ranked Buckeyes in a pair of Big Ten Conference matchups on Friday and Saturday evening.
FOLLOW THE ACTION
Dates: Friday, November 23 | Saturday, November 24
Place: Value City Arena
Time: Friday at 5 p.m. | Saturday at 8 p.m.
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 heads to Columbus for its first true road trip of the season as they battle No. 5 Ohio State for a pair of Big Ten match-ups. The two teams traded places in the national polls this week.
• This weekend marks the 23rd and 24th meetings in the all-time series with the Buckeyes holding the 12-8-2 advantage including the 6-3-1 mark at Value City Arena. Last season the Nittany Lions earned eight of the possible 12 points against Ohio State winning the season series with a 2-1-1 record including taking five of a possible six points at Value City Arena.
• Junior Brandon Biro leads all Nittany Lions averaging a point per game against the Buckeyes with two goals and six assists in eight games played while sophomore Evan Barratt also found success against Ohio State last season with two goals and two assists in four games. Senior Chase Berger has added two goals and five assists for seven points in 12 games while classmates Alec Marsh and Kevin Kerr lead all current players with three career goals against OSU.
• Both Chris Funkey and Peyton Jones started a game against the Buckeyes last season in Columbus with Funkey earning the shootout victory and Jones following that with a 4-0 shutout, the third of his career and only shutout during the 2017-18 campaign.
SCOUTING OHIO STATE
• The Buckeyes will be Penn State's second-consecutive Frozen Four opponent and the highest ranked team the Nittany Lions have faced this season as they are currently No. 5 in both polls. OSU is second in the Big Ten standings with a 3-1-0-0 record and nine points. Overall Ohio State is 8-3-1 on the year.
• The Buckeyes return eight of their top-10 scorers from last season's Frozen Four team including leading scorers Tanner Laczynski and Mason Jobst who registered 47 and 43 points, respectively. Jobst also led the team with 21 goals. So far this season the duo is continuing that trend as Laczynski leads the team with 11 points and Jobst second with 10. Jobst's seven goals also lead the team.
• OSU is also strong between the pipes as both goaltenders from last season have returned in Sean Romeo and Tommy Nappier. The two have split time this season and both have put up impressive numbers. Nappier leads the nation with a .958 save percentage while his 1.27 goals against average is good for fourth. Romeo has also impressed with a .918 save percentage and a 2.13 goals against average and has registered three-consecutive shutouts heading into the weekend.
• As a whole Ohio State has only allowed three goals over its last six games going 5-1-0 during that span and 19-for-20 on the penalty kill over the last six.
• Ohio State's power-play has been suspect early this season converting at just 16.4 percent (9-for-55) ranking 42nd in the nation while its penalty kill struggled early in the season and even with its impressive recent stretch ranks just 27th in the nation at 82.4 percent (42-for-51).
• The Buckeyes have the third best team defense in the nation allowing just 1.83 goals per game while their five shutouts lead the nation as they are the only team to have multiple goalies with multiple shutouts on the year.
B-17 FLYING FORTRESS
• Sophomore Evan Barratt was recognized by the Big Ten for the first time in his career this past week earning First Star of the Week accolades after leading the nation with four goals during a weekend split against Michigan.
• Last Saturday, Barratt became the seventh different player to register a hat-trick all of which have come on home ice with the last six happening at Pegula Ice Arena.
• Barratt has scored at least one goal in six-straight games, which is a new Penn State record while his 10-game point streak is tied for the program record for longest point streak.
• Classmate and linemate Alex Limoges is also riding a career-long 10-game point streak to tie the program record as well.
• Both Barratt and Limoges lead the team with 19 points, which tops the entire NCAA while Barratt's nine goals lead the Big Ten and rank tied for second nationally. Limoges 12 assists also pace the Big Ten and tie for second in the nation.
• Barratt's 19 points is already a new career-high surpassing the 18 he had as a freshman last season while Limoges is just two points shy of tying his freshman year output of 21 points and his seven goals already tie his total from last season.
POWER-PLAY STREAK
• Penn State has scored at least one goal on the man-advantage in five-straight games going 5-for-16 (31.3 percent) over that stretch. The Nittany Lions now rank second in the Big Ten and 11th in the nation at 23.7 percent (9-for-38) on the power-play this season.
• However, over that same stretch opponents are 6-for-18 against the Nittany Lions with at least one power-play goal in four of the last five games.
GONE IN 6 SECONDS
• Sophomore Sam Sternschein needed just six seconds to net the overtime winner last Saturday against Michigan collecting his first multi-point effort of the season in the process.
• The goal also became the fastest goal to open a period in program history surpassing the previous record of 10 seconds set by Andrew Sturtz in the second period against Michigan State on December 4, 2015.
• The overtime victory was the first for Penn State in over a year coincidently also at home against Michigan on October 27, 2017. Blake Gober scored the winner in that game also needing less than a minute as he notched the golden goal just 53 seconds into the frame.
• Penn State was 0-1-5 during its six overtime games between the two victories over Michigan.
JUMP START
• Penn State has done a great job this season starting periods fast as in 10 of 35 periods played Penn State has scored within the first two minutes of the opening faceoff including six of the last 10 periods played.
• The Nittany Lions have also scored the first goal of a game six times this season with a perfect 6-0-0 record when doing so.
LINE DANCE
• Penn State's line of sophomore's Alex Limoges and Evan Barratt paired with junior Liam Folkes continued to pepper the stat sheet last weekend against Michigan combining for five goals and six assists for 11 more points. In 11 games this season the line has combined to score 21 goals while adding 32 assists for 53 points or an average of 4.82 points per game.
• The line is the highest scoring in college hockey this season and dating back to the end of the 2017-18 campaign the line has registered 32 goals while adding 41 assists for 73 points in their last 18 games and Penn State is 14-4-0 in those games.
• The next top scoring line so far this season is Princeton's line of Ryan Kuffner, Alex Riche and Max Veronneau who have scored 12 goals while adding 18 assists for 30 points in just seven games for an average of 4.29 points per game.
• Overall in 39 career games together the Limoges - Barratt - Folkes combination has registered 48 goals and 56 assists for 104 points while the Nittany Lions have a 22-12-5 record when the trio is paired together.
YOU CAN'T SCORE IF YOU PASS
• Whether shooting the puck or passing this season, the Nittany Lions lead the nation in most offensive categories including goals (63), assists (114), points (177), goals per game (5.73), shots on goal (41.73) and faceoff percentage (60.1 percent).
• Over the last six games Penn State is averaging 6.33 goals per game including three games with at least seven goals scored. The Nittany Lions have now scored at least seven goals in a game four times this season and 17 times in program history.
CHASING EACH OTHER
• With three points last weekend against Michigan, junior Nate Sucese moved past a pair of Nittany Lions in Dylan Richard '17 and Eric Scheid '16 and into sixth on the Penn State all-time points list with 78 for his career. He now sits just two points shy of Casey Bailey for fifth and three points behind current teammate Denis Smirnov (81) for fourth.
• Smirnov passed Bailey for solo fourth last weekend with his lone assist on Friday night breaking the tie with the former Nittany Lion sniper.
• With his goal on Saturday night Sucese also moved past Smirnov for sixth place on the all-time goals list with 38 for his career, Smirnov is now seventh with 37 goals.
• Sucese is also just outside the top-10 all-time in assists with 41 trailing Taylor Holstrom '15, Trevor Hamilton '18 and current linemate Brandon Biro who each have 43 to their name and are tied for eighth in program history.
BLOCK PARTY
• Penn State leads the nation in blocks with 214 and blocks per game averaging 19.45, which is three blocks clear of RPI in second.
• Junior Kris Myllari is averaging nearly two blocks per game more than his next closest competitor as he leads the nation with 4.82 blocks per game. His 53 blocked shots are 21 more than the player in second.
• Myllari also has 16 goals for his career to tie Vince Pedrie for the program record for goals by a defenseman.
DON'T CALL IT A COMEBACK
• Penn State entered last weekend against Michigan outscoring its opponents, 22-6, in the third period, but were outscored 8-2 over the final twenty minutes including surrendering two goal leads each night.
• The loss on Friday was the first time this season the Nittany Lions couldn't close out a game when tied or leading after two periods. Penn State is now 8-1-0 this season in such games.
(MAN) ADVANTAGE EVAN
• Barratt's first two goals of his career last season were on the power-play and he tied for the team lead with six power-play goals as a freshman. Two of his goals last weekend were also on the power-play giving him 3 PPG's so far this season.
• Scoring almost half of his career goals with the man-advantage (9-of-20), Barratt is tied with Smirnov for fifth on the Penn State all-time list for power-play goals. Casey Bailey holds the record with 13 while senior Chase Berger is second with 11.
NEXT UP
• Penn State remains on the road with a pair of contests against Wisconsin next Friday and Saturday evening.