Three keys for Penn State to sweep Notre Dame

The No. 5 Penn State Nittany Lions dropped their fourth-straight series finale against Ohio State last weekend. It is becoming a concerning trend as the first half of the regular season comes to a close, and PairWise points start to matter even more.

"Every time we go on the road in the Big Ten, it's going to be tough," coach Guy Gadowsky said. "I don't think we're going to look at this any differently."

The Fighting Irish have underperformed significantly this year. They are sixth in the Big Ten and only have two wins in conference play. The Nittany Lions have struggled to come away with six points since conference play began. This weekend is one where they need to come away with a sweep. Here are three things that the Lions have to focus on in order to earn a sweep.

The Fighting Irish play a boring style of defensive hockey that gives teams headaches when trying to enter the attacking zone. This is particularly noticeable in the neutral zone. Jeff Jacksons' squad utilizes a 1-3-1 neutral zone trap. Here is a diagram of what it is.

When the opposing team carries the puck up the ice, the defending team lines up on the red line and closes the gaps. The key to this system is forcing the puck carriers to the outside. So the Nittany Lions have to do two things in order to break the trap. They have to get to the middle of the ice and make quick short passes.

The Penn State forecheck was invincible in Game 2 against Ohio State. Some of it may have been because of Ohio State's mobile puck-moving defensemen, but whenever the Nittany Lions decided to apply pressure, they caused turnovers.

With how weak the Notre Dame defense is this season, making its defenseman uncomfortable by utilizing a heavy forecheck will result in high-danger chances for Penn State.

Senior goaltender Ryan Bischel has been the victim of poor defense in from of him. He is 7-7-1 with a 2.59 goals-against average and a .924 save percentage. Penn State has to make his job as difficult as possible. He is not as big as 6-foot-4 Jakub Dobeš, but for a 6-foot-1 goaltender, Bischel covers a lot of net.

Notre Dame also gives up 34.4 shots per game, which is the most in the Big Ten and fifth-most nationally. That works into the favor of the Nittany Lions mantra of shooting from everywhere.