A change in the forward lines sparked Christian Sarlo and Ryan Kirwan
A change in forward lines has re-sparked Ryan Kirwan and Christian Sarlo's goal-scoring.
In Sarlo's last eight games, he has recorded points in seven games earning nine points split between four goals and five assists.
"I was trying to push myself. I had a good summer,” Sarlo said. “I was on the ice a lot. And then I just stuck with it. I was sticking with the process and trusting our workout.”
Sarlo had a slow start to the season, but once his line got going, his off-ice work paid off.
Sarlo played with this year's "identity line" until Chase McLane returned, and Kirwan took Tyler Paquette's place when Paquette went back to playing with last year's identity line with Tyler Gratton and McLane.
Sarlo scored the Nittany Lions' second goal of the first game against Minnesota and the lone goal in their loss in the second game.
In the second game against Michigan State, Sarlo was responsible for the first goal in their first period comeback; he also recorded an assist on Kevin Wall's power-play goal.
In game one against Alaska Fairbanks, Sarlo recorded an assist on Ryan Kirwans' goal. Sarlo also scored a short-handed goal which ended up being the game-winner, and his linemate Paquette recorded the assist.
"They're so consistent,” defenseman Simon Mack said. “You know where they're going to be and that they're going to make the right play, and when they're able to make strong plays defensively, it helps us as d-men. So it's easy for us to make consistent plays."
Kirwan started the season with Ture Linden and Wall. In the series against Canisius, he had five points split between three goals and two assists. After that, however, the line slowed down, and he was scratched for the first time in his career in Game 2 against Michigan State. Kirwan had gone eight-straight games without scoring a goal.
"The less he thinks about scoring, the better he does," head coach Guy Gadowsky said. “Clearly, against Alaska, he was not focused on scoring but on playing good hockey and was rewarded.”
In Kirwan's first game back against Alaska-Fairbanks, he played on a line with Sarlo and Lamppa. Kirwan scored a goal, with Lamppa and Sarlo having the assists.
In the second game of the Alaska series, Kirwan scored a power-play goal to tie the game at one.
Sarlo is on pace for 25 points this season and is just two points shy of reaching his career-best season. In addition, Sarlo is one goal shy of tying his season bests in both goals and assists.
Kirwan is just getting back on track, but with his new linemates, he has a point per game.
"I don't think we can overstate how important they have been," Gadowsky said about Sarlo and Kirwan.
The Nittany Lions are going to need Kirwan and Sarlo to continue their hot streaks, when they welcome No. 17 Ohio State to Pegula.
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