UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – After earning the fifth seed with a tiebreaker over Wisconsin, the Penn State Nittany Lions open the 2022 Big Ten Tournament on the road in Columbus with a best-of-three quarterfinal matchup against the fourth-seeded and No. 12 Ohio State Buckeyes.
Since the three-weekend playoff format was established prior to the 2017-18 season this will be the first time Penn State will play its best-of-three quarterfinal series away from Pegula Ice Arena after having hosted Minnesota in 2018, Wisconsin in 2019 and earning the first-round bye in 2020. The 2021 Big Ten Tournament reverted back to the single-elimination format at a neutral site due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
FOLLOW THE ACTION
Dates: Friday, March 4 | Saturday, March 5 | Sunday, March 6 (if necessary)
Place: Value City Arena | Columbus, Ohio
Time: Fri: 7:00 p.m. | Sat: 7:00 p.m. | Sun: 8:00 p.m. (if necessary)
Streaming Video: Friday | Saturday | Sunday
Listen: Friday | Saturday | Sunday
Live Statistics: Live Stats
Game Notes: Penn State
THIS WEEK'S MATCHUP
- In 37 all-time meetings entering this weekend's playoff series, Ohio State has the all-time edge at 20-13-4 including an 10-7-2 mark all-time on home ice including a series sweep back in November. Penn State is 1-1 against OSU in Big Ten Tournament games.
- In this three-week playoff format that was established prior to the 2017-18 season, no visiting team has won a best-of-three quarterfinal round. In fact, there have only been two victories by a visiting team in 20 quarterfinal matchups in this format. Wisconsin won the opening game against Penn State in 2019 and Notre Dame defeated Minnesota in the series opener in 2020.
- The Buckeyes won the season series taking 10 of a possible 12 points with a 3-0-1 record. Of the 17 goals Ohio State scored in the four games this season, nine have come in the third period including seven of the nine goals scored during a series sweep at Value City Arena back in November. Penn State held the lead in both of those games for more than half the game.
- Last season the series was split 1-1 with the final two contests being canceled due to Penn State's COVID-19 pause late in the season. Penn State won the season series in 2019-20 with a record of 2-1-1 taking seven of the possible 12 points en route to its first Big Ten regular season championship.
- Junior Kevin Wall leads all current Nittany Lions with five points in 10 career games against the Buckeyes with three goals and two assists as only six current Penn State players have registered goals against OSU. Sophomore Jimmy Dowd Jr. has chipped in six points as well in six career games against Ohio State on one goal and five assists while junior Connor MacEachern tallied a goal in each game earlier this season in Columbus for his first two points in 10 career games against the Buckeyes.
- Freshman Ben Schoen had a hand in each goal during a 2-2 tie back in January as he had the primary assist on the game's opening goal before tallying the equalizer in the third period. The rookie then sealed the deal in the shootout to secure the extra point with the shootout winner.
PSU B1G TOURNAMENT HISTORY
- Penn State has advanced to six-straight tournament semifinal games and seven overall in the first eight years of the conference tying Ohio State for the most semifinal appearances in league history. The Buckeyes made the semifinals the first seven years of the conference before being bounced by Michigan in the 2021 quarterfinals.
- The Nittany Lions have played a Big Ten record 18 tournament games since the league's inception prior to the 2013-14 season and with an 11-7-0 record, Penn State holds the Big Ten Tournament record for most wins while Ohio State and Minnesota are tied with 10 each. PSU is 9-4 in its last 13 Big Ten Tournament games dating back to the 2016-17 season.
- Penn State is 4-1 all-time in overtime games during the Big Ten Tournament with the lone loss coming in last season's semifinal round against Wisconsin. The Nittany Lions have also played in the three longest games in tournament history.
B1G TOURNAMENT ROYALTY
- Former Nittany Lion captain Alex Limoges '21 graduated as the all-time leading scorer in Big Ten Tournament history 17 points on seven goals and 10 assists in 10 games. Limoges registered at least one point in eight of his 10 Big Ten Tournament games with seven multi-point games. Limoges' six goals in five games during the 2018-19 Big Ten Tournament are a single-tournament record while his nine points were second to Liam Folkes '20 as both players landed on the All-Tournament Team that year. Folkes ranks second in Big Ten Tournament history with 16 points on eight goals and eight assists in 11 career postseason games.
- Without Limoges and Folkes, Penn State's current leading scorers in Big Ten Tournament games are Paul DeNaples and Christian Sarlo with three points each and Connor McMenamin with two goals.
SCOUTING OHIO STATE
- The Buckeyes enter the weekend coming off a bye during the final week of the regular-season, which saw them drop their final four games to Minnesota and Michigan being outscored 16-6 in those contests. OSU fell from tops in the B1G Standings to fourth with those four defeats finishing the year 21-11-2 overall and 13-9-2-1-1-1 in conference action.
- Freshman Georgii Merkulov leads the team with 18 goals and 32 points. His 18 goals lead the Big Ten and are the most of any first-year player in the nation ranking tied for the sixth-most overall. His 32 points are tied for the fourth-most in the Big Ten and are tied for the second-most in the nation for rookies.
- Freshman defenseman Mason Lohrei ranks second on the team with 29 points, but has missed the last three games with an undisclosed injury and in questionable for the weekend series. His 25 assists lead the Big Ten and are tied for eighth nationally. Jake Wise has added 10 goals and 17 assists for 27 points as the only other Buckeye aside from Merkulov that has double-digit goals.
- Ohio State has spread the scoring around with 20 players having at least one goal this season and 12 of those players having five or more goals. The Buckeyes 3.47 goals per game rank just third in the Big Ten but eighth nationally as the Big Ten has four of the top-9 offenses in the nation.
- On the defensive side of things, Ohio State again ranks just fourth in the conference but 13th in the nation allowing just 2.32 goals per game led by freshman goaltender Jakub Dobes whose .933 save percentage and 2.22 goals-against average rank tied for first and fifth in the conference and good for tied fifth and 15th in the nation, respectively. His three shutouts this season are also the most in the Big Ten and tied for 11th in the nation. The freshman's 20 wins are the most among rookie net-minders and rank second in the Big Ten and tied for fourth nationally.
- The Buckeyes are 13-6-0 this season at Value City Arena and are 5-1-0 all-time on home ice in the Big Ten Tournament with their lone loss coming in the 2019 B1G semifinal, a 5-1 victory for Penn State.
- Ohio State is outscoring its opponents 55-21 in the third period this season. For comparison, Penn State is being outscored 50-35 by its opposition in the third period this season.
FOUR-ON-FOUR
- After leading the Big Ten a season ago with four 4-on-4 goals, Penn State tallied its first two 4-on-4 goals of the 2021-22 season to lead a third period comeback against Michigan State last Friday.
- Senior classmates Adam Pilewicz and Paul DeNaples each tallied 4-on-4 goals just 2:45 apart to erase a two-goal deficit for Penn State en route to four third period goals and a 5-3 victory.
- Prior to the four-goal third period last Friday, Penn State had only scored two third period goals in its last six games and were being outscored 50-31 over the final 20 minutes on the season.
- All six of Penn State's goals last weekend at Michigan State came from upperclassmen including three by seniors snapping an eight-game goalless drought by fourth-year players. Prior to last weekend 14 of the last 20 Nittany Lions goals over an eight-game stretch had come from underclassmen including 12 by freshmen.
DOWD AND IN
- Sophomore Jimmy Dowd Jr. ranks fifth on the team with a career-best 21 points on three goals and a team-best 18 assists. Dowd's 21 points are tied with Kris Myllari '20 for the eighth-most by a defenseman in a single-season in Penn State history while his 18 assists are good for the sixth-most in a single-season by a Nittany Lion blueliner. With 26 career assists, Dowd is now tied with current teammate Paul DeNaples for the eighth-most all-time at Penn State for defensemen while his 31 career points are tied with Connor Varley '16 for ninth all-time.
PAULY DEFENSE
- Senior Paul DeNaples has 33 points in his career breaking a tie with Connor Varley for the eighth-most all-time at Penn State for defensemen.
- With his seventh career goal last Friday, DeNaples is now tied with Nate Jensen '15 and David Thompson '17 for the 10th most by a Nittany Lion blueliner all-time.
- DeNaples is also second all-time in plus/minus with a plus-49 rating in 129 career games played.
NEXT UP
- The winner of this weekend's series will advance to the 2022 Big Ten Semifinals next Saturday and barring any upsets in the other two series will battle regular-season champion and top-seeded Minnesota in Minneapolis in a single-game with the winner advancing to the B1G Championship.
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.