Four keys for Penn State Hockey to take into Wisconsin
The No. 16 Penn State Nittany Lions will get their first crack at Big Ten play this weekend with a road date with the Wisconsin Badgers. This is going to be a huge test for the Nittany Lions as they barely outlasted the St. Thomas Tommies and were not satisfied with their play after the 3-2 overtime win last Friday.
"We are proud that we pulled [a win in Game 2], but not proud on how we played," head coach Guy Gadowsky said Monday. "There was very obvious, very clear information as to what we have to get back to doing well. That's what this week will be about."
The Badgers are coming off a shocking sweep of the No. 19 Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs. Even though their roster on paper does not look threatening, they play a very scrappy style of hockey. Despite getting swept by St. Cloud State and Ohio State, Wisconsin fought hard until the end of each contest.
They had a 3-0 lead in Game 2 of the Ohio State series but coughed it up, and the Buckeyes scored four unanswered goals to win 4-3. However, Tony Granantos' group is not to be underestimated. So here are four things the Nittany Lions must do in order to be successful.
1. Keep the Badgers to the Perimeter
The Badgers love to cycle the puck in the offensive zone. They are constantly moving around to find open ice. In order to prevent Wisconsin from setting up shop in the attacking zone, the Penn State defense has to force the Badgers to the outside, also known as the perimeter.
Wisconsin can't generate high-danger scoring opportunities if its players are shooting from the hash marks near the boards. This will make Liam Souliere's job a lot easier and will take a load off of the Penn State defense, that has tendency to give up a fair amount of quality scoring chances.
The Lions will have to slow down the likes of Brock Caufield (two goals, two assists), Corson Ceulemans (one goal, four assists), Cruz Lucius (three goals, one assist) and Owen Lindmark (two goals, one assist).
"We still have so much to do with our game before we really started focusing on someone else," Gadowsky said.
2. Stay out of the penalty box
This seems pretty self-explanatory. The penalty killing unit continues to struggle for the Nittany Lions. They allowed a power-play goal against the Tommies, who boasts a 9.1% rate on the man-advantage which is one of the worst units in the nation. Furthermore, the Tommies had two short-handed scoring opportunities.
Penn State's penalty kill is second-last in the Big Ten (68.8%). Make no mistake, the PK has looked more stable. A big thing the Lions struggled with was clearing the puck out of the zone when short handed. They looked better with their clears, but it is still something that will need to be worked on.
Even though the Wisconsin power play is 1-for-12, which is the worst man-advantage in the Big Ten, with how lackluster Penn State's penalty kill has been, it is best not take penalties at all.
3. Simplify breakouts
Penn State is a team that likes to play up the rush and leave the defensive zone early on breakouts. While that style has worked in these last three series, execution might be more difficult against the Badgers.
The Nittany Lions have to make the simple play when breaking the puck out. This means distributing the puck to the closest skater that is open, instead of forcing a long stretch pass.
Making short passes on the breakout is highly effective against teams that are very aggressive on the forecheck.
4. Make Jared Moe work
Wisconsin goaltender Jared Moe has been solid. He is 2-3-0 with a 2.83 goals-against average and a .923 save percentage. However, Wisconsin has given up the most goals in the Big Ten at 3.50 goals against per game.
Penn State is a team that loves to score goals and put as many shots on goal as possible. The Nittany Lions have to force Moe to give up rebounds in front of the net. Penn State averages about 45 shots on goal per game which leads the Big Ten. It hit the 50-shot mark in Game 1 against St. Thomas.
Prediction: Penn State splits
The series kicks off in Madison this Friday at the Kohl Center at 8 p.m.
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