SERIES PREVIEW: No. 6 Penn State vs No. 7 Michigan
The No. 6 Penn State Nittany Lions will travel to Ann Arbor this week with a date with the No. 7 Michigan Wolverines. The Nittany Lions made headlines the last time these two squads met at Pegula Ice Arena back in early November, where Penn State upset a No. 1 team for the first time in program history, shutting out the Wolverines 3-0 in Game 1.
"I think the first game here was maybe the best game we've had all year. You can be go beyond just this year. It was excellent," coach Guy Gadowsky said. "This is a new series and we're just going to be ready, as much as we appreciate the fact that we played well last time, this one is new and we're gonna have to be ready."
In that historic Game 1, Penn State held the Wolverines to just 17 shots on goal and freshmen phenom Adam Fantilli had none of them.
Turning to the present, both teams are coming off of splits and have struggled to find consistency. The Wolverines are coming off of a split against the conference-leading Minnesota Golden Gophers. Both games in that series went beyond regulation and the Wolverines took Game 2, 5-4.
Meanwhile, Penn State snapped its three-game losing skid with a split over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Both games were tight and low scoring, with Notre Dame pulling out a 2-1 win in the series opener, but the blue and white bounced back with a 3-2 win thanks to Christian Sarlo's go-ahead goal with just under six minutes to play in the third period.
Penn State is 3-12-0 all time at Yost Ice Arena. The last time the Nittany Lions won at Michigan was on Dec. 7, 2019 in a 3-1 win.
"You're trying to carry over confidence. It's a momentum game and right now we have a little bit on our side after that win," Liam Souliere said. "We know what we're gonna do a little bit more and understand what we need to do a little bit better. That's kind of the process you need to go through to head into a building like Yost and get some wins.
Penn State remains in third place in the PairWise rankings and are tied for second in the Big Ten with Ohio State.
"We're going to be saying this for the rest of the season: this is the biggest game of the year," Gadowsky said. "Every game from from here on out is going to have implications nationally and implications in the Big Ten standings."
The depth of Penn State's lineup was tested this past weekend. The Nittany Lions continue to be without Ryan Kirwan after getting hurt against RIT. Gadowsky inserted Dylan Lugris into the lineup and it ended up paying off. He got the secondary assist on Simon Mack's opening tally in Game 2.
"When Ryan Kirwan, who's a scorer, goes out a guy like Dylan Lugris can step right in because he's a similar mold," Gadowsky said. "It's quite a luxury that we have right now and it only works if you have a great culture. They're such great people and they're so positive."
Michigan (14-9-1, 6-8) is sixth in the Big Ten with 18 points.
The last time these two teams met, the Wolverines were dealing with a plethora of injuries. One of which was to goaltender Erik Portillo. The fifth-year netminder is 3-2 in his last five starts and 13-8-0 on the season. He is also two wins away from his 50th career win.
Even with the injury struggles early in the season, the Wolverines have loads of talent. Fantilli has 33 points (14 goals, 19 assists) and is sixth in the nation in points. Mackie Samoskevich is having a terrific sophomore season with 25 points (13 goals, 12 assists). Furthermore, Luke Hughes continues to be one of the most dominant defenseman in the nation with 23 points (three goals, 20 assists).
What stands out about Michigan is its power play. Even though it went 0-for-6 against Minnesota, the Wolverines boast the second best man-advantage unit in the Big Ten at 23.2%. Samoskevich and Dylan Duke each lead the team with five power-play goals.
The series kicks off at Yost Ice Arena on Friday at 7 p.m.
--------------------------------------------------------------
• Subscribe to our YouTube Channel