EAST LANSING, Mich. – The No. 17 Penn State Nittany Lions begin a four-game road swing in the state of Michigan with a pair of Big Ten contests in East Lansing against No. 11 Michigan State on Friday and Saturday.
FOLLOW THE ACTION
Dates Friday, November 10 | Saturday, November 11
Place: East Lansing, Mich.
Time: 7 p.m. | 4 p.m.
Streaming Video: Friday | Saturday
Listen: Friday | Saturday
Live Statistics: Live Stats
Game Notes: Penn State | Michigan State
THIS WEEK'S MATCHUP
- This weekend marks the 43rd and 44th meetings all time between Penn State and Michigan State with the Nittany Lions holding the 21-16-5 edge in the series. The Spartans hold the slim 11-9-2 mark at Munn Ice Arena including a 2-0-1 mark in the last three in East Lansing.
- Last season both games at Munn went into overtime with Michigan State securing a 3-2 victory in the opener and the teams skating to a 4-4 tie with MSU grabbing the extra point in a shootout on night two.
- Three of the last seven meetings in East Lansing have needed extra time with the teams having split them evenly at 1-1-1. Eleven of the last 12 meetings at Munn Ice Arena have been decided by two goals or less with six of those being decided by one goal or less.
- More than half of the Michigan State roster is new from last year after the Spartans lost 16 players from the 2022-23 roster they have replaced that with 15 newcomers including 10 freshmen to go along with five transfers.
- Both teams tend to start scoring early as MSU has scored first in 6-of-10 games this season while Penn State has registered the opening goal in 5-of-9 contests. The Spartans are a perfect 6-0-0 when scoring first while the Nittany Lions are 4-1-0 in such games.
- Even after being assessed nine penalties for 26 minutes last Saturday against Notre Dame, Penn State remains the least penalized team in the Big Ten and the third least penalized team in the nation averaging just 6.4 PIM's per game.
- Michigan State on the other hand is the most penalized team in the Big Ten and the fifth-most penalized team in the nation averaging 14.9 PIM's per game. The Spartans have allowed the most powerplay chances in the nation so far this season with 52, but have only surrendered nine powerplay goals, killing off 82.7 percent of opponent chances against to rank fourth in the Big Ten and 28th nationally.
SCOUTING THE SPARTANS
- Michigan State enters the weekend No. 11 in the latest national polls after a weekend sweep in Columbus against the Buckeyes to open its Big Ten slate last weekend.
- The Spartans are 7-3-0 overall to start the year their best start to a season through the opening 10 games since the 2009-10 season when they opened 7-2-1. Last weekend was also the first time ever MSU has opened 2-0-0 in Big Ten play and just the second-ever Big Ten road sweep and first since 2016.
- The Spartans return six of their top-seven scorers from a season ago including each of the top three. The only loss from the top-seven is Jagger Joshua who led the team with 13 goals while adding 11 assists for 24 points.
- Michigan State is paced by Karen Dorwart through the first 10 games this season as he is already more than halfway to his point total from last season ranking fifth in the Big Ten with 14 points on six goals and eight assists. His six goals are tied for the team lead with freshman Gavin O'Connell who was just named Big Ten's First Star of the Week after scoring twice in each game during last weekend's sweep in Columbus.
- The Spartans are scoring at will through the opening 10 games of the season as 17 players have already lit the lamp including 10 players with multiple goals. MSU is averaging 4.60 goals per game to rank second in the Big Ten and third in the nation behind only Michigan (5.0) and Denver (4.9).
- Michigan State has plenty of new faces on the backend this year after the departure of the Krygier twins who patrolled the blueline for the past five years as well as goaltender Dylan St. Cyr who started 37-of-38 games a season ago posting a 17-18-2 record with a 2.77 goals-against average and a .915 save percentage. Backup Pierce Charleson also transferred to Alaska-Fairbanks at the conclusion of the season.
- The Spartans do have highly touted freshman Trey Augustine between the pipes this season and he has started 9-of-10 games so far with a 6-2-0 record to go along with his 3.25 goals-against average and .905 save percentage.
- With all the turnover on the backend, Michigan State has struggled at times to keep the puck out of its own net allowing a league high 3.40 goals per game, the 18th highest GAA in the nation. MSU has allowed five or more goals in each of its three losses this season and aside from its opening series against LSSU they have allowed three or more goals in seven of the last eight games, the only outlier being a 6-0 shutout last Friday at Ohio State.
DAN THE MAN
- Junior Danny Dzhaniyev saw his career best four-game goal scoring streak snapped last Sunday, but with an assist on the game-tying goal he continued his now career-best five-game point streak.
- Dzhaniyev leads the team with 11 points through the first nine games of the season. His 11 points are tied for 10th in the Big Ten.
KEEP IT ON THE D.L.
- Junior Dylan Lugris has already reached a new career-high with six points in nine games this season while tying his career-high in goals with four and is currently riding a three-game goal scoring streak which ties his career-long.
- Each of Lugris' four goals this season have come in clutch situations as he leads Penn State and ranks tied for third in the Big Ten and seventh nationally with three powerplay goals. He has also scored an extra-attacker goal in two of the last three games including last Sunday against Notre Dame to tie the game at two with just 35.7 seconds remaining.
- Penn State had just one extra attacker goal last season after not recording a single extra-attacker goal during the 2021-22 season. The Nittany Lions haven't had multiple extra-attacker goals in a season since 2019-20 when they had three.
BONUS HOCKEY
- For just the fifth time in Penn State history and third time in Big Ten play, the Nittany Lions had a series where both games went to overtime last weekend against Notre Dame and it marked the first time in program history that both games advanced to a shootout.
- It was the first time a series saw both games advance to overtime since last January 13-14 right here in East Lansing against the Spartans.
- Prior to last weekend, Penn State had just two games advance all the way to a shootout over the past three seasons. The Nittany Lions have competed in multiple shootouts in a season for just the third time in program history and first since the 2019-20 season. Penn State advanced to a program-record five shootouts during the 2017-18 season.
- The shootout victory last Sunday was the first for the Nittany Lions since January 28, 2022. Penn State is now just 6-10-0 all-time in shootouts.
XANDER LIGHT THE LAMPPA
- Senior Xander Lamppa was the lone player to score in the three-round shootout last Sunday to secure the extra Big Ten point for the Nittany Lions.
- A night earlier Lamppa factored in all three goals for Penn State with one goal and two assists for a career-best three points.
- Lamppa is currently third on the team with one goal and six assists for seven points through nine games.
THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT
- Out of necessity and curiosity to see what they could do together, Penn State put together an all-freshman line last weekend against Notre Dame consisting of Matt DiMarsico, Reese Laubach and Aiden Fink.
- While they may have only accounted for one goal and a pair of assists throughout the two games it was that goal that ignited Sunday's third period comeback. They also played with confidence and speed showing off their skill and led the team with 15 scoring chances over the two games.
- Fink, who scored the goal, has had a nice start to his rookie campaign in Hockey Valley with two goals and six assists for eight points and has registered at least one point in six of his first nine games.
- Fink's eight points are the fourth-most in the Big Ten among freshmen and tied for 10th in the nation for rookie scoring. Michigan's Garrett Schifsky leads the B1G in freshmen scoring with 11 points while the Spartan duo of Artyom Levshunov and Gavin O'Connell are tied for second with nine points each.
GUY'S OUR GUY
- In his 12th season behind the Nittany Lion bench, head coach Guy Gadowsky enters the week with 199 victories at Penn State. Under his guidance PSU has posted five 20+ win seasons and reached the NCAA Tournament on three occasions with a pair of Big Ten Championships mixed in.
- With 372 total wins in his 24-year coaching career, Gadowsky ranks 35th among Division I coaches all-time and 11th among active NCAA Division I coaches, one win clear of Bemidji State bench boss Tom Serratore.
NEXT UP
- Penn State returns to the state of Michigan next weekend this time Ann Arbor to battle the eighth-ranked Wolverines on Friday and Saturday evening.
For more information on the 2023-24 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.