UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The 18th-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions earned the four-seed and home ice in the Big Ten Tournament Quarterfinal round and will welcome the No. 5 Wisconsin Badgers back to town for a best-of-three series on Friday and Saturday evening and if necessary to conclude on Sunday evening.
FOLLOW THE ACTION
Dates: Friday, March 8 | Saturday, March 9 | Sunday, March 10 (If necessary)
Place: Pegula Ice Arena
Time: Friday at 8 p.m. | Saturday at 6 p.m. | Sunday at 6 p.m. (If necessary)
Tickets: Friday | Saturday | Sunday
Streaming Video: BTN-Plus ($)
Watch: Friday | Saturday | Sunday
Listen: Friday | Saturday | Sunday
Live Statistics: Live Stats (All Games)
Game Notes: Penn State | Wisconsin | Big Ten
PARKING
- On Friday night, fans are encouraged to park in the Stadium West lot due to the Harlem Globetrotters game taking place at the Bryce Jordan Center. Expect potential heavy traffic and parking congestion.
THIS WEEK'S MATCHUP
- For the second consecutive season, Penn State will host a best-of-three Big Ten Tournament Quarterfinal series at Pegula Ice Arena. The Nittany Lions swept Minnesota last season and look to continue recent successes against Wisconsin in this year's tournament.
- Penn State finished fourth in the Big Ten standings for the third consecutive season and the fourth out of the last five setting new program records for conference victories with 11 and points with 35.
- The Nittany Lions are 5-1-0 in their last six Big Ten Tournament games dating back to the 2016-17 season and are 7-4-0 all-time advancing to three-straight semifinal games and four overall in the first five years of the conference. Penn State's seven tournament wins are the second most all-time behind Ohio State's eight over the first five seasons of the Big Ten Conference.
- Penn State defeated Wisconsin 2-1 in double-overtime to capture the 2017 Big Ten Tournament Championship in its first and only Championship game appearance. In three previous Big Ten tournament meetings the Nittany Lions are 2-1-0 against the Badgers.
- Junior Liam Folkes leads all current Nittany Lions with four goals in six games in his Big Ten Tournament career while adding a pair of assists for six points. Classmates Nate Sucese and Brandon Biro also have six points to their names in Big Ten Tournament games with three and two goals, respectively, while sophomore Evan Barratt scored three goals while adding one assist for four points in three Big Ten Tournament games last season.
- Penn State is 15-11-3 all-time against the Badgers including a 7-4-1 mark at Pegula Ice Arena.
HOME SWEET HOME
- Penn State is 13-7-0 at home this season and are 50-22-5 over the last four seasons inside Pegula Ice Arena.
- The Nittany Lions are averaging 5.10 goals per game at home while only allowing 3.45 and are outscoring opponents 102-69 at Pegula Ice Arena this season.
- Penn State has sold out 107-of-111 home games since the arena opened its doors prior to the 2013-14 season including 94-straight regular-season games.
- Penn State's 105.4 percent capacity this season ranks tops in the nation while its 6,094 average fans is good for sixth. In total, 121,870 fans have packed Pegula's walls this season setting a new single-season attendance record.
SCOUTING WISCONSIN
- The Badgers enter the weekend riding a three-game winning streak following back-to-back overtime victories over Michigan last weekend to earn the tiebreaker over the Wolverines for the No. 5 seed in the Big Ten Tournament.
- Wisconsin has scored four or more goals in each of its last three games after failing to generate more than two goals in its seven games prior to this mini streak. The Badgers rank tied for 20th nationally averaging 3.06 goals per game, which places them fifth in the Big Ten. Wisconsin ranks just 52nd in the nation in goals allowed at 3.44, also fifth in the Big Ten only ahead of Michigan State (3.50) and Penn State (3.71).
- The Badgers have just one double-digit goal scorer in sophomore Sean Dhooghe with 12 while classmate Wyatt Kalynuk has added nine goals and is tied for the team lead with 23 points. Seamus Malone and Linus Weissbach have also added 23 points with eight and seven goals, respectively.
- Daniel Lebedeff has started 10 of the last 11 games between the pipes for the Badgers including eight-straight and has posted an overall record of 10-10-2 with a 3.31 goals against average and an .890 save percentage.
- Wisconsin has struggled with special teams this season ranking last in the Big Ten in both the PP and PK and 44th and 59th in the nation, respectively. The Badgers are killing just 74.1 percent of its penalties (103-139) while its 36 man-advantage goals allowed rank third most in the nation. On the other end, the Badgers are converting just 16 percent of their own chances (20-for-125). The Badgers are just 2-for-41 on the power-play over their last 13 games.
KEEPIN' IT 100
- On Friday, Liam Folkes will become the ninth different player this season to reach the 100 career games played mark as well as the sixth different member from the junior class to do so.
- With three points last week, Folkes is now just one point shy of David Glen '16 for tenth on the Penn State all-time scoring list with 68 points while the junior's 33 goals rank eighth all-time as a Nittany Lion.
- Should he start between the pipes in at least two games this weekend, junior goaltender Peyton Jones will also reach the 100 games played and 100 games started mark at Penn State becoming the first goalie in program history to do so. Jones holds most, if not all, of Penn State's single-season and career goaltending records.
CLOSING THE GAP
- After a single goal last weekend, junior Nate Sucese is now just one point shy of becoming the fourth player in program history to hit 100 career points. With the 47th goal of his career last Friday, Sucese ranks third on the Penn State all-time goals list while his 52 assists are good for fifth in program history.
- Sucese is currently tied for sixth in the country among active juniors with his 99 career points while his 47 goals place him second in the country among third year players just one behind Minnesota State's Marc Michaelis. Sucese is just two points shy of tying his career high of 36 set during his freshman campaign. The junior is also one goal and one assist off of his career-highs of 17 and 19 also registered during the 2016-17 season.
I AM IRON MAN
- Last Friday, senior captain Chase Berger became the all-time leader in career games played at Penn State as he skated in the 148th game of his career. Berger has yet to miss a single game since stepping foot on campus playing in all 149 contests.
- The St. Louis, Missouri native is also just the second player in program history to eclipse the 50-goal mark as he sits just three goals shy of Andrew Sturtz's program record of 54. With 26 points, Berger has now registered 25 or more points in each of his four seasons donning the Blue and White.
- Berger also became the program's all-time leader in shots on goal currently sitting at 462 career shots.
PLAYOFF PEYTON
- The 2017 Big Ten Tournament Most Outstanding Player always seems to rise to the occasion when his team needs him the most posting a 5-1-0 career record in the Big Ten Tournament with a 2.29 goals against average and a .934 save percentage.
- Jones has registered 30 or more saves in each of his Big Ten Tournament games including a career-high 51 saves during the 2017 Championship game, a 2-1 double-overtime victory against the Badgers. The junior also notched a 44-save performance in last year's semifinal loss at Notre Dame, his third most in a single game.
RECORD SETTING OFFENSE
- Last weekend against Notre Dame, Penn State set a new single season record for assists which now stands at 267 after surpassing its previous record of 265 set during the 2016-17 season.
- The Nittany Lions are also just three goals and one point shy of equaling each record total also from the 2016-17 season in which they played a program-high 39 games.
- The Nittany Lions lead the nation in most offensive categories including goals scored (157), assists (267), points (424), goals per game (4.62) and shots per game (40.4).
FORTY OR MORE
- Sophomore Alex Limoges finished the regular season tied for second in the Big Ten with 41 points, which ranks tied for fifth in the nation. Limoges is just the fourth player in program history to hit the 40-point mark in a single season while his 41 points are the second most just six shy of Denis Smirnov's program record of 47.
- Limoges' 17 goals lead the team and rank tied for third in the Big Ten. The sophomore has four multi-goal games to his credit this season along with 12 multi-point efforts. This season, Penn State is 12-1-0 in games where Limoges scores a goal.
- Classmate Evan Barratt isn't far off with 39 points to rank fourth in the Big Ten and tied for 11th in the nation. Barratt's 16 goals are tied for fifth in the conference.
- Penn State has never had multiple 40-point scorers in the same season and have the possibility to have upwards of four when the 2018-19 season comes to a close. Brandon Biro and Nate Sucese have 36 and 34 points, respectively.
- Penn State leads the nation with five 30-point scorers and 11 20-point scorers so far this season.
THREE AND BELOW
- Last Weekend against the Irish, Penn State won its first game of the season when scoring less than four goals during Saturday night's 3-2 victory. The Nittany Lions are now 1-7-1 when scoring less than four goals in a game this season.
- Penn State ranks just 57th in the nation allowing 3.71 goals per game, but is 16-0-1 this season when holding its opponents to three goals or less. However, Penn State is just 3-13-1 on the year when allowing four or more goals.
- Penn State has also had its best results this season when playing with the lead. The Nittany Lions are 13-3-0 when scoring first and 11-2-1 when leading after the first period.
- Penn State is also 15-3-1 when leading after the second period compared to just 1-8-0 when trailing entering the third period.
CONTROLLING THE DOT
- Penn State ranks second in the nation in faceoff percentage at 55.2 percent led by Ludvig Larsson who ranks second in the Big Ten and 17th in the nation at 59.1 percent while Chase Berger is third in the Big Ten and 20th in the nation at 58.2 percent.
- Since the start of January, out of true centers, Berger leads the entire nation winning 64.2 percent (179-100) of his draws.
ICE TUDDIES
- Including a game two weeks ago against Wisconsin, Penn State has scored at least seven goals in a game seven times this season, including four times in Big Ten play, and 21 times in program history.
NEXT UP
- The winner of this series will advance to a single game Big Ten semifinal next Saturday with opponent and location to be determined by the outcome of each series.