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No. 6 Men's Hockey Travels to No. 7 Michigan for B1G Series

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The 6th-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions begin a four-game road swing with a trip to Ann Arbor this weekend for a Big Ten Conference series against No. 7 Michigan this Friday and Saturday evening.

FOLLOW THE ACTION
Dates: Friday, January 27 | Saturday, January 28
Place: Yost Ice Arena | Ann Arbor, Mich.
Time: FRI: 7 p.m. | SAT: 7 p.m.
TV: FRI: N/A | SAT: B1G Network
Streaming Video: Friday | Saturday
Listen: Friday | Saturday
Live Statistics: Live Stats
Game Notes: Penn State | Michigan

THIS WEEK'S MATCHUP

  • This weekend marks the 40th and 41st meetings all-time between the two schools with Michigan holding the 23-15-1 advantage including a 13-6-1 mark since the start of the 2017-18 season. The Wolverines swept the season series last year outscoring the Nittany Lions 18-8 over the four games. Michigan is 12-3-0 all time against the Nittany Lions at Yost Ice Arena.
  • The teams split their series at Pegula Ice Arena back in November with Penn State securing the 3-0 victory on night one and Michigan winning 4-3 in overtime the following night after the Nittany Lions erased a three-goal third period deficit to force the extra frame. Adam Fantilli secured the game-winner just 24 ticks into OT.
  • The shutout in the series opener is the only time this season that the Wolverines have failed to find the back of the net, Penn State has yet to be shutout all season.
  • This weekend features the high-flying offense of two of the top eight scoring teams in the nation with Michigan fifth averaging 3.75 goals per game and Penn State eighth at 3.54 goals per game. Minnesota leads the Big Ten, ranking third in the nation, averaging 3.88 goals per game followed by Michigan and Penn State, respectively.
  • The teams have combined for 273 goals over the previous 39 matchups in the series averaging exactly seven goals per game between them with the Wolverines at 4.03 and Penn State at 2.97.
  • Senior Kevin Wall leads Penn State with two goals and five assists for seven points in 10 career games against the Wolverines while junior Xander Lamppa has added five points on a pair of goals and three assists in seven career games against Michigan and Christian Sarlo has one goal and three assists for four points in eight games against the Wolverines.
  • Junior goaltender Liam Souliere has three career starts against the Wolverines posting a 1-2-0 record with a 3.33 goals-against average and .867 save percentage with one of his two Big Ten shutouts coming back on November 4 in Hockey Valley.

SCOUTING MICHIGAN

  • The Wolverines are coming off a pair of tightly contested battles against No. 2 Minnesota last weekend dropping the series opener in overtime before earning the overtime win the following night.
  • Michigan is paced offensively by a likely 2023 top-2 overall NHL draft pick in freshman Adam Fantilli with 33 points to lead the Big Ten and rank sixth in the nation. His 14 goals and 19 assists this season are each good for second in the conference and tied for 11th nationally. Sophomore Mackie Samoskevich has added 13 goals and 25 points to rank second on the team while Dylan Duke is third with 12 goals. For Samoskevich and Duke five of their goals have come on the powerplay to tie for fourth in the conference for powerplay goals.
  • Michigan has dominated its opponents over the opening 20 minutes of play this season outscoring them 34-19, however, just 16-12 in conference games while the third period has been a let down as the Wolverines are being outscored 24-18 over the final 20 minutes of play including a 15-6 clip in Big Ten play. Michigan is being outscored 35-22 over the final two periods in Big Ten games this season.
  • Michigan has 18 players who have registered at least one goal this season and 22 with a point, however, Penn State leads the nation with 21 players having lit the lamp at least once and 24 players with a point.
  • The Wolverines haven't been very disciplined this season as they lead the Big Ten and rank second in the nation averaging 16.3 PIM's per game and their PK hasn't bailed them out often ranking 40th in the nation at 79.1 percent (91-for-24).
  • Michigan's powerplay on the other hand has been exceptional this season converting at 24 percent (23-for-96) ranking second in the Big Ten and 16th nationally. Last time these two teams met Michigan was 1-for-4 on the man-advantage and a perfect 8-for-8 on the penalty kill.
  • Erik Portillo paces the team between the pipes with a 13-8-0 record with a 3.05 goals-against average and .907 save percentage. This will be the first time this season he will be seeing the Nittany Lion offense after he was under the weather during the first meeting back in Hockey Valley in November and Noah West played both games for the Wolverines.

FOOL ME ONCE, SHAME ON YOU, FOOL ME TWICE, SHAME ON ME

  • With a 3-2 victory last Saturday over Notre Dame, Penn State remains unbeaten following a loss this season running its record to 7-0-1 in such games.
  • The 2-1 loss to the Irish last Friday was, however, the first time all season the Nittany Lions lost a game when allowing two or fewer goals falling to 14-1-0 in such games.

SIZZLING SARLO

  • After being held off the stat sheet for the first three games of December, junior Christian Sarlo has registered at least one point in four of the last seven games with a pair of goals during that span including the game-winner last Saturday against Notre Dame. Sarlo's six goals and 14 points this season are both career-highs.

HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT

  • Penn State has hit the 50-shot mark four times this season including a season-high 53 last Friday against Notre Dame. However, after winning the first two games this season when reaching 50 shots by a combined score of 12-5, the Nittany Lions have lost the last two, both to Notre Dame, with just four goals on 103 shots.

RECORD SETTING WEEKEND

  • Not once, but twice Penn State broke its attendance record at Pegula Ice Arena last weekend. After seeing 6,558 fans file in on Friday night, breaking the previous record by 83 patrons, eight additional fans attended Saturday's Wear White game for the current record which now stands at 6,566.
  • In total this also meant Penn State saw a series record 13,124 fans across the two games including the 1,000,000th fan in the 9-plus year history of Pegula Ice Arena.
  • Seven of the top-10 crowds all-time at Pegula Ice Arena have occurred this season as the Nittany Lions are averaging 6,078 fans through their first 16 home games, the fifth-most in the nation. Penn State's 106.6 percent average capacity this season tops the nation.
  • Penn State has now won two consecutive Wear White games pushing its all-time record to 3-5-1 in front of the monochromatic crowd.

DIMINUTIVE DANNY

  • Standing just 5 foot 4 inches tall, sophomore Danny Dzhaniyev has the distinction as shortest player in college hockey this season. Dzhaniyev, who wears No. 13, is a full 16 inches shorter than the last player to don No. 13 for the Blue & White, Nikita Pavlychev, who at 6 foot 8 inches tall spent many years as the tallest player in college hockey.
  • Dzhaniyev is on a bit of a heater after being placed on a line with transfers Ashton Calder and Ture Linden, Dzhaniyev has points in three of his last four games with goals in two of his last three. As a trio the line has combined for five goals and eight assists for 13 points over the last six games.

IF YOU AIN'T FIRST, YOU'RE LAST

  • Penn State has succeeded this season scoring first and have done so in 19 of its 26 games this season posting a record of 14-4-1 when doing so. Three of the seven games when opponents have scored first have come against Notre Dame, however, Penn State ended up winning two of those contests and are actually one game better than .500 at 4-3-0 when the opponent scores first this season.
  • Whether it is scoring first or coming-from-behind or playing in tight games the Nittany Lions have succeeded in all aspects this year posting a 7-4-1 record in games decided by one goal or less after going just 3-6-1 in such games last season. Penn State was also just 1-15-0 when allowing the first goal of the game during the 2021-22 season.

NEXT UP

  • Penn State remains on the road to conclude its brief four-game road swing with a trip to Columbus to battle the No. 8 Ohio State Buckeyes next weekend.

For more information on the 2022-23 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.