UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State Nittany Lions conclude their 2021-22 regular-season schedule this weekend as they travel to East Lansing, Michigan to battle the Michigan State Spartans in a pair of Big Ten Conference Games on Friday and Saturday evening.
FOLLOW THE ACTION
Dates: Friday, February 25 | Saturday, February 26
Place: Munn Ice Arena | East Lansing, Mich.
Time: Fri: 7:00 p.m. | Sat: 6:00 p.m.
Streaming Video: Friday | Saturday
Listen: Friday | Saturday
Live Statistics: Live State
Game Notes: Penn State | Michigan State
THIS WEEK'S MATCHUP
- This weekend marks the 37th and 38th meetings between the two teams with Penn State holding the 19-13-4 advantage including a 6-4-0 mark over the last two plus seasons. Penn State won the season series last year securing 8-of-12 points going 3-1-0 against MSU with two regulation victories and one overtime win. The two teams split the opening series this season in Hockey Valley with Penn State winning 4-2 in the first game and Michigan State securing the 4-3 victory the following night.
- Penn State is 17-7-2 against MSU since the start of the 2015-16 season, however, the Spartans hold the slim 9-8-1 all-time advantage at Munn Ice Arena with the series in East Lansing having been split each of the last four seasons.
- The Nittany Lions have scored just six goals in their last four games at Munn and are averaging just 2.5 goals per game in 18 career games in the arena. Penn State has scored more than three goals in just four games all-time in East Lansing.
- Senior Clayton Phillips leads all current Nittany Lions with six points on two goals and four assists in 15 career games against the Spartans while junior Connor MacEachern has also chipped in six points on three goals and three assists in 10 career games against Sparty including goals in each game back in December.
- Senior goaltender Oskar Autio has had the most success in his career against Michigan State compiling a 4-1-0 record over six appearances with five starts registering a .932 save percentage and a 1.79 goals-against average with his lone loss to the Spartans coming earlier this season. Autio recorded one of his four career shutouts last season at Michigan State in a 1-0 victory, the only game in 10 seasons of Penn State Hockey that the Nittany Lions have won by that score.
SCOUTING MICHIGAN STATE
- The Spartans enter the weekend having lost 12-straight games and are without a regulation win in their last 16 opportunities dating back to a 4-3 victory nearly three months ago in Hockey Valley on December 4, 2021.
- Michigan State is averaging just 1.83 goals per game during this most recent losing streak and have scored more than two goals just twice while allowing 4.25 goals per game over the same stretch with opponents scoring four or more goals in eight of those contests.
- The Spartans received reinforcements last weekend against Notre Dame as active career leading scorer Mitchell Lewandowski returned from an injury that sidelined him for the previous 10 games. The senior missed five games earlier in the season as well and has missed a total of 15 games this season after not having missed a single game in his previous four years. Lewandowski has seven goals and 12 assists for 19 points in just 17 games this season.
- In the absence of Lewandowski, sophomore Jeremy Davidson and junior Erik Middendorf have stepped up as each player has potted 11 goals to lead the team while Davidson is tied with freshman Jesse Tucker for the team lead with 22 points. Tucker leads the way with 20 assists for the Spartans.
- Drew DeRidder and Pierce Charleson have been splitting time as of late with the former leading the way with an 8-13-1 record with a .921 save percentage and a 2.85 goals-against average. DeRidder's save percentage is good for sixth in the Big Ten and 19th nationally.
- The Spartans rank just fifth in the Big Ten and 39th nationally allowing 3.16 goals per game this season while offensively they come in sixth in the Big Ten and 50th nationally scoring just 2.19 goals per game.
- The Michigan State powerplay has been extremely effective of late having scored at least one powerplay goal in four-straight games including one each against the top penalty killing unit in the nation last weekend against Notre Dame. The Spartans are 6-for-16 (37.5 percent) with the man-advantage over the past few weekends having scored all but two of their eight goals in the past four games on the powerplay. Overall, the Spartan powerplay ranks second in the Big Ten converting 22 percent (22-for-99) of the time.
FANTASTIC FRESHMAN
- Freshman Ryan Kirwan had a career-best seven-game point-streak (4-6-10) snapped earlier this semester and was held off the scoresheet in three consecutive contests until scoring in back-to-back games last weekend giving him 11 goals on the season.
- Kirwan is now third on the team with 23 points and 11 goals marking the most points by a Nittany Lion freshman since Vince Pedrie had 22 in 2015-16. His 11 goals are also the most by a Penn State freshman since Evan Barratt scored 11 during that same 2017-18 campaign. Kirwan currently ranks eighth and tied for seventh, respectively, for points and goals by a rookie in a single-season.
- Kirwan's 11 goals are tied for the fifth most nationally for freshmen and are the third most among rookies in the Big Ten while his 23 points are good for 14th in the nation among freshmen and sixth in the Big Ten. Penn State is 12-3-1 this season when a freshman scores a goal and up until last week were undefeated when Kirwan lit the lamp, but have now dropped to 7-2-0 in such games.
- With back-to-back multi-goal games against Wisconsin back in January, Kirwan was the first Nittany Lion to register two-straight multi-goal games since Alex Limoges '21 accomplished that feat against Wisconsin in 2019.
FOUR SCORE AND SEVEN GOALS AGO
- Last month Penn State racked up seven goals in a game for the first time since beating Michigan 9-5 on December 3, 2020.
- All-time Penn State has now scored seven or more goals on 25 occasions including seven times in Big Ten contests. Twice each now against Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan and once against Notre Dame.
- In the six games since that 7-2 victory over Wisconsin on January 22, Penn State has scored just nine goals, four of which came last Saturday in a loss to Minnesota, and have failed to win a game going 0-5-1 while being shut out twice.
- Last Saturday marked just the second time this season in 15 games that Penn State lost when scoring four or more goals. The Nittany Lions have just one victory in 17 games when scoring three or fewer goals this year.
FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH
- Of Penn State's last 20 goals over the last eight games, 14 have come off the stick of underclassmen including 12 by freshmen.
- Seven of Penn State's top-10 scorers this season are all underclassmen including a trio of freshmen led by Kirwan's 11 goals and 23 points.
- Rookie classmates Danny Dzhaniyev and Ben Schoen have each scored six goals while chipping in 17 and 16 points, respectively, to rank sixth and seventh on the team.
- Sophomore Jimmy Dowd Jr. ranks fifth on the team with a career-best 19 points on three goals and 16 assists. Dowd's 19 points are the 10th-most by a defenseman in a single-season in Penn State history while his 16 assists are tied with Luke Juha for the eighth most in a single-season. With 24 career assists, Dowd now ranks ninth all-time at Penn State for defensemen while his 29 career points are tied with Nate Jensen '15 for 10th all-time.
- All-in-all Penn State's scoring has been evenly distributed between underclassmen and upperclassmen this season with underclassmen scoring 49 of the 101 goals scored and accounting for 148 of the 272 total points.
NEXT UP
- Penn State will be on the road for the Big Ten Tournament Quarterfinals against a yet to be determined opponent in a best-of-three series next weekend. An opponent will be determined following the outcomes across the league this weekend.
For more information on the 2021-22 season presented by the Penn State Bookstore: Official Bookstore of Penn State Athletics, visit the men's hockey page at GoPSUsports.com or call 1-800-NITTANY Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.