After failing to secure at least three points against the No. 1 Minnesota Golden Gophers, the No. 10 Penn State Nittany Lions are looking to finish off the regular season on a high note when they welcome the Wisconsin Badgers.

This series for the Nittany Lions has major playoff implications. If Penn State sweeps the Badgers, it will host the first round of the Big Ten Tournament. The Nittany Lions can earn as high as second place, but a lot of scenarios would have to happen in order for Penn State to earn that second seed.

Ohio State and Michigan are tied for second with 36 points. Michigan takes on Notre Dame and Ohio State takes on Minnesota. If Notre Dame earns four points or less and Penn State earns at least four points, the Lions will have home ice as they own the tiebreaker.

The Lions only have two wins in 2023. However, that could have changed in Game 2 last weekend.

Danny Dzhaniyev gave the Nittany Lions a 2-1 lead late in the third period of last Saturday's contest, but Gophers' forward Matthew Knies tied the game at two 40 seconds later with the goalie pulled. Knies would eventually score the game-winner in overtime to complete the comeback.

"There's certainly a couple areas of our game where we just have to get back to playing and executing better in those areas," coach Guy Gadowsky said. "But, with the best team in a nation we came within 40 seconds of beating them, so you have to be able to take some positive out of that, but by no means are we satisfied."

Penn State swept the Badgers the last time these two teams met back at the Kohl Center in late October, and Liam Souliere posted a 32-save shutout. The junior netminder's numbers have fallen off since the season began. He is 1-7-1 with a 3.75 goals-against average and a .878 save percentage since Jan. 1.

However, those numbers are not representative of his play.

"I don't think our confidence in him has wavered all year," Christian Berger said. "He has had a little bit of ups and downs but I don't think there's been any lowered of confidence in him."

Injuries started to plague Penn State down the stretch. Connor McMenamin and Jarod Crespo each returned to the lineup on Friday against Minnesota and Ryan Kirwan made his return in Game 2 after missing 10 straight games due to injury.

"I was just happy to see him back in the lineup," Connor MacEachern said. "We certainly missed him and he's a vital part of our team."

Wisconsin has struggled all season long and has been playing the spoiler role for the rest of the teams in the Big Ten. The Badgers (12-20-0, 5-17-0) are dead last in the conference with only 15 points, but are coming off of back-to-back splits with Minnesota and most recently Michigan State. The Badgers are 0-10-0 against Big Ten opponents on the road this season.

The Badgers are last in the Big Ten with 3.31 goals against per game and are sixth in the Big Ten with 2.56 goals per game. Despite the lack of scoring Wisconsin has had, freshman Cruz Lucius is having a terrific rookie season with 31 points (10 goals, 21 assists).

Goaltender Jared Moe has been the victim of poor defense and only has 10 wins on the season. He has a 3.05 goals-against average and a .904 save percentage.

The series kicks off on Friday Feb. 24, at 7 p.m. at Pegula Ice Arena.