No. 5 Penn State plays its penultimate regular season series in South Bend against a struggling Notre Dame team looking for anything positive to end the first season under Brock Sheahan. The Nittany Lions are safely in third place in the conference standings but enter tonight’s game looking for more. Penn State will likely be down to 17 skaters again this weekend, but this team has still looked dangerous even with all the injuries.
How to Watch
Who: Notre Dame Fighting Irish
NPI Ranking (PSU): 53 (5)
When: Friday, February 27 and Saturday, February 28
Where: Compton Family Ice Arena, South Bend, IN
Times: 7pm (Friday), 6pm (Saturday)
TV: Peacock (both games)
Radio: Penn State Sports Network
Projected Lineup
Matt DiMarsico-Reese Laubach-JJ Wiebusch
Gavin McKenna-Luke Misa-Aiden Fink
Lev Katzin-Nic Chin-DeGraves-Casey Aman
Shea Van Olm-Ben Schoen
Jackson Smith-Jarod Crespo
Carter Schade-Mac Gadowsky
Cade Christenson-Nolan Collins
Josh Fleming
Kevin Reidler
Opponent Preview
Notre Dame is no longer winless in Big Ten play, but the Irish are a paltry 2-17-1 in conference games this season.
Evan Werner leads the team with 15 goals, one of three double-digit goal scorers alongside Sutter Muzzatti (11) and Danny Nelson (11). Notre Dame is the lowest-scoring team in the Big Ten, with just 2.7 goals per game. Still, the high-event game Penn State typically plays should allow the Irish to get plenty of scoring chances, as we saw in the first series between these teams.
The bulk of Notre Dame’s issues are on defense and in net. Opponents record an average of 34.3 shots per game and 4.1 goals per game when playing Notre Dame this season. Goaltending has been a struggle for the Fighting Irish as well, ranking 60th in the NCAA in save percentage (.880). Penn State scored a combined 10 goals in the first two meetings and have found their stride on offense even down two of their best three centers.
News & Notes
- Michigan lost in regulation to Minnesota last night, meaning Penn State now controls its destiny for second place in the Big Ten. The Nittany Lions would need to win all four of their remaining games in regulation- not impossible, but certainly a tough hill to climb.
- Nick Fascia will not play this weekend.
- Unsurprisingly, Gavin McKenna won Big Ten First Star of the Week for his 10-point weekend against Ohio State.
Prediction
I am not fooled by Notre Dame’s poor record- this will still be a very tough series for Penn State on the road. The Fighting Irish challenged Penn State in the first series with a good forecheck and strong physical play. Ultimately, Penn State will be able to take advantage of Notre Dame’s poor goaltending, but the Irish will have their chances. The Nittany Lions take care of business on the road.
Penn State 5-2, 5-3
