A 6-4 victory over North Dakota in Nashville put a bow on the early portion of the Penn State’s nonconference schedule and gave the Nittany Lions a 6-1-0 record.
The start of the Big Ten schedule hasn’t been as kind to the team from Hockey Valley.
A trip to Minneapolis gives Penn State another chance to capture its first conference victory of the season after dropping the first four to Ohio State and Michigan.
In true Penn State fashion, the Nittany Lions outshot the Buckeyes and Wolverines in all four games for a combined total of 136-113. However, they’ve been outscored to a tune of 20-6 and have only one power-play goal on a dozen opportunities.
The Ohio State series was the first two-game set away from Pegula Ice Arena for the team this season. The victory over North Dakota technically goes down as a neutral-site win, but with the way that fan base travels UND never plays in a true neutral-site game. The games at Minnesota, and the following Tuesday-Wednesday series at St. Thomas, are opportunities to get things cooking away from the friendly confines this season.
Even with the tough stretch of games and playing the two teams most considered to be conference favorites back-to-back, Nittany Lions coach Guy Gadowsky said after Michigan completed the sweep on Friday that the morale of the team was still high.
“From our coaching standpoint, one thing that was very important to us was that the guys stayed very positive on the bench when there’s a couple of instances where we certainly maybe could have let it go and they didn’t so I was very proud about that,” he said. “I think the mood was that we have to work our way out of this funk.”
Minnesota coach Bob Motzko didn’t have much to say about Penn State’s recent results at his media availability this week other than he’s still expecting to face a tough offensive test.
“They shoot from everywhere,” Motzko said. “They like to play with speed, they like to play up-and-down, they like to transition. If you relate it to football, they’re Don Coryell, they’re throwing that thing all over the rink.
“You have to pay attention to it, and you have to be ready for it, because it’s different from what we see from a lot of teams.”
Notre Dame, Michigan set for a marquee matchup
As pointed out in last week’s Big Ten column, Notre Dame coach Jeff Jackson likes his team to be referred to as a puck-possession team instead of a defensive outfit.
If there’s one team in the conference, or country for that matter, that you’d be well-served to keep the puck away from, it’s Michigan.
A gander at the Wolverines’ statistics chart shows that all the usual suspects that were predicted to put up impressive point numbers before the season started are already doing so. Kent Johnson leads the team with 20 points, Owen Power has 18, and Matty Beniers has 15, which include a team-leading nine goals.
Beniers has been centering Michigan’s top line with Johnson and Brendan Brisson as his wingers and it seems like that unit has found another gear.
“We’ve started to find a lot of chemistry this last four or five games together,” Beniers said on Monday. “Moving the puck quick and playing off each other. It’s going to take some time, but I think we’re moving in the right direction and playing really well right now.
“It’s a lot of fun, that’s all I can say.”
It’s not just the top guns scoring, either.
Michigan has had 16 players score at least one goal this season and even goaltender Erik Portillo has picked up an assist.
In outscoring Wisconsin 8-1 over the two games last weekend, Notre Dame continues to quietly prove that its offense is on the rise, too. Specifically, junior Max Ellis has had a great start to the season for the Irish. His seven goals and 13 points pace the team.
In net, Cornell transfer Matthew Galajda seems to have settled into the starting role. He stopped 46 of the 47 shots faced last weekend and picked up his first shutout for Notre Dame on Saturday.
