UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The 18th-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions return home after their bye-week and welcome the Minnesota Golden Gophers to Pegula Ice Arena for a pair of 6 p.m. match-ups this coming weekend.
FOLLOW THE ACTION
Dates: Friday, February 8 | Saturday, February 9
Place: Pegula Ice Arena
Time: Friday at 6 p.m. | Saturday at 6 p.m.
Tickets: Friday | Saturday
TV: Big Ten Network
Streaming Video: Fox Sports App/BTN2Go
Watch: Friday | Saturday
Listen: Friday | Saturday
Live Statistics: Live Stats (Both Games)
Game Notes: Penn State | Minnesota | Big Ten
THIS WEEK'S MATCHUP
- Penn State returns to Pegula Ice Arena following its bye week and welcome the Minnesota Golden Gophers to town for a Big Ten weekend series on Friday and Saturday evening.
- This marks the 26th and 27th meetings all-time with Minnesota holding the 15-10-0 overall record, however, Penn State has won seven of the last nine meetings dating back to the 2017 Big Ten Tournament semifinals. The Nittany Lions are 6-6-0 against the Gophers all-time at Pegula Ice Arena including four-straight victories.
- Penn State's four-straight home victories against Minnesota are tied for the second longest home winning-streak against a Big Ten opponent and with a weekend sweep the Nittany Lions would tie its longest home winning streak against a conference foe which currently sits at six games (MSU 1/17/15 - 11/24/17). The back-to-back sweeps at home last season against the Gophers marked the first time in program history that Penn State has swept Minnesota in a weekend series.
- Junior Denis Smirnov leads all players with seven goals and seven assists in 13 career games against the Gophers while sophomore Alex Limoges has registered four goals and five assists for nine points in just eight games against Minnesota.
- Senior Chase Berger has played the most games against Minnesota with 17 in his career and has collected a pair of goals to go along with eight assists for 10 points.
- Sophomore Evan Barratt missed both games at Minnesota earlier this season as he was representing Team USA at the World Junior Championship, however, in the four games he has played against the Gophers he has four goals and one assist for five points including the game-winning goal in game 2 of the 2018 Big Ten Quarterfinals to defeat Minnesota 6-5.
SCOUTING MINNESOTA
- The Gophers enter the weekend coming off a series split with Michigan and currently sit second in the Big Ten standings with 27 points and an 8-7-3-0 conference record. Overall Minnesota is 11-12-4 and rank 24th in the Pairwise.
- Minnesota has lost four-straight games at Pegula Ice Arena being outscored 21-11 in those contests.
- The Gophers are led offensively by Rem Pitlick who is coming off a five-point weekend against Michigan and is currently riding a nine-game point streak with goals in eight of those games, including six-straight. With his recent hot streak the junior has jumped into a tie for third in the Big Ten with 33 points, which ranks tied for sixth nationally. Pitlick has a Big Ten leading 17 goals this season to go along with 16 assists, while his eight power-play tallies rank second in the nation. In 13 career games against Penn State, Pitlick has nine goals and 10 assists for 19 points.
- Tyler Sheehy is close behind with 32 points while his 24 assists are good for second in the Big Ten and tied for third nationally. Sheehy along with freshman Sammy Walker have each added eight goals while Brannon McManus and Brent Gates Jr. have potted 11 and 10, respectively.
- Mat Robson has been the main goaltender used by the Gophers starting 16 of the 18 conference games and 22 games overall posting a 9-8-4 record with a .921 save percentage and a 2.85 goals against average. Robson's save percentage ranks third in the Big Ten and 21st nationally while his goals against average falls in the middle of the pack.
- Minnesota's power-play leads the Big Ten and ranks fifth in the nation converting at 27 percent (27-for-100) on the season including power-play tallies in seven-straight games. The Gophers are 10-for-20 with the man-advantage over their last four games scoring only eight even-strength goals over that same stretch.
- Minnesota has also killed off 17-straight penalties over the last five games including going 12-for-12 on the kill last weekend against Michigan. The Gophers PK leads the Big Ten and ranks 11th in the nation at 85.6 percent (89-for-104).
DON'T GET SHORT WITH ME
- Penn State has scored three shorthanded goals over its last three games including two shorty's in the same game for the first time in program history three weeks ago against Ohio State.
- Penn State's six shorthanded goals this season lead the Big Ten and rank tied for fourth in the nation as only Niagara (8), Boston University (7) and Sacred Heart (7) have scored more shorthanded goals than the Nittany Lions.
- Junior Nate Sucese and sophomore Alex Limoges lead the team with a pair of shorthanded tallies each. Sucese is tied for second in program history with four in his career. Sucese's seven career shorthanded points also rank second all-time.
THREE AND BELOW
- Penn State has struggled at times this season on defense as the Nittany Lions rank 56th in the nation allowing 3.77 goals per game. Penn State is just 3-10-1 on the year when allowing four or more goals. However, when Penn State holds its opponent to three goals or less they are 11-0-1 this season.
ALL-IN-ALL YOU'RE JUST ANOTHER BRICK IN THE WALL
- Two weekends ago at the World's Most Famous Arena, junior goaltender Peyton Jones had one of his best games this season stopping 35-of-37 shots including 22 first period saves.
- The 22 saves in the first period marked a new career-high for the junior as well as tying Eamon McAdam's single-game Penn State record for saves in a period.
- Jones went on to earn Big Ten Third Star of the Week honors last week marking his third weekly award this season and the seventh for his career, the most ever by a single player in Penn State history. Denis Smirnov ranks second with six career Big Ten weekly awards.
DYNAMIC DUO
- Sophomore classmates Evan Barratt and Alex Limoges are both having breakout seasons earning them each a nomination for the Hobey Baker Award.
- Barratt is second in the Big Ten and tied for third in the nation with 35 points while Limoges ranks tied for third in the Big Ten and sixth in the nation with 33 points.
- Both players have 20 assists which tie for fourth in the conference and 12th in the nation while Barratt's 15 goals rank tied for third in the Big Ten and seventh in the nation.
- Barratt's 13 multi-point efforts this season are also good for third in the nation and tie the Penn State record for most in a single-season held by both Andrew Sturtz and Denis Smirnov each of the past two seasons.
- Add in junior Liam Folkes as the third person on that line and when paired together the trio has combined for 39 goals and 52 assists for 91 points in 23 games or 33 percent of all goals and 28 percent of total offense.
- The trio is averaging 3.96 points per game, which is slightly higher than Michigan State's KHL line at 3.93 points per game. That line of Patrick Khodorenko, Taro Hirose and Mitchell Lewandowski has scored 44 goals while adding 66 assists for 110 points in 28 games played together.
BLUE-LINE BEAUTIES
- Sophomore defenseman Cole Hults has registered an assist in four of his last five games to tie junior Kris Myllari for the team lead in scoring for defenseman with 17 points. Each player has three goals and 14 assists in 26 games this season.
- After scoring twice in a rout against Robert Morris back in November, Myllari has been held without a goal in 17-straight contests as he is still looking to become the program's all-time leader in goals by a defenseman. Myllari is currently tied with Vince Pedrie in that category with his next goal moving him into sole possession of the record.
- Senior Kevin Kerr is also just one point shy of tying Pedrie for fourth on the Penn State all-time scoring list for defenseman as he sits at 52 points for his career.
IF YOU AIN'T FIRST, YOU'RE LAST
- Penn State has had its best results this season when playing with the lead. The Nittany Lions are 8-2-0 when scoring first and 8-1-1 when leading after the first period.
- Penn State is also 11-2-1 when leading after the second period compared to just 1-6-0 when trailing entering the third period.
NEXT UP
- The Nittany Lions return to the road as they travel to East Lansing for a pair of games against Michigan State next weekend.