MADISON, Wis. – The 16th-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions begin Big Ten Conference action with a trip to Wisconsin to battle the Badgers at the Kohl Center this weekend.
FOLLOW THE ACTION
Dates: Friday, October 28 | Saturday, October 29
Place: Kohl Center | Madison, Wisconsin
Time: FRI: 8:00 p.m. (ET) | SAT: 8:00 p.m. (ET)
Streaming Video: Friday | Saturday
Listen: Friday | Saturday
Live Statistics: Live Stats
Game Notes: Penn State
THIS WEEK'S MATCHUP
- This weekend marks the start of Big Ten play and the 46th and 47th meetings all-time between Penn State and Wisconsin as the Badgers are the Nittany Lions' most common opponent over the first 10-plus years of the program. Penn State holds the 24-18-3 edge in the series and has won three-straight entering the weekend after taking 8-of-12 possible points last season with a 3-1-0 record against Wisconsin.
- This marks the fourth time in the 10-year history of the league the Nittany Lions have opened Big Ten play against Wisconsin and the third time in Madison. Penn State has won the last four games between the teams as part of a Big Ten opening series including convincing 6-1 and 4-2 wins at Pegula on Halloween Weekend 2019.
- Penn State is 5-4-0 in Big Ten openers all-time including a 2-3-0 mark on the road and have lost back-to-back conference openers and went on to be swept in each of the last two Big Ten opening series, both on the road, at Ohio State last year and at Minnesota in 2020-21. This is the sixth time in the 10-year history of the Big Ten that Penn State has opened conference play on the road and the fourth in the past six seasons, third-straight.
- The Nittany Lions are just 8-10-2 all-time at the Kohl Center including just a 2-6-2 record in the last 10 meetings in Madison with one of those two wins coming in overtime last December as Paul DeNaples was the OT hero.
- DeNaples has played in 20 career games against Wisconsin with three of his eight career goals coming against the Badgers while he has also added six assists for nine points.
- Senior Connor McMenamin has also added nine career points against the Badgers with four goals and five assists in 13 games. Five of those points came in the same game as McMenamin tied the Penn State single-game record for points and assists with five and four, respectively, back on January 22, 2021.
- Senior Kevin Wall leads all Nittany Lions with 10 points against the Badgers in 12 career contests having scored three goals to go along with seven assists.
- A trio of freshmen from last season had early success against the Badgers as Ben Schoen collected a pair of goals and three assists for five points in four games including the lone multi-goal game of his career to date. Danny Dzhaniyev also scored twice while adding three assists for five points in four games including a career-best three-point effort as part of the overtime victory last December in Madison. Ryan Kirwan registered back-to-back multi-goal games against Wisconsin at Pegula Ice Arena last January and added a pair of assists in Madison for six points in four games against the Badgers.
- Junior goaltender Liam Souliere has a 1-1-0 career record against the Badgers in his two starts which included an impressive career-best 40-save performance while allowing just a single goal in a 4-1 victory back in January during his lone start against the Badgers in 2021-22.
SCOUTING WISCONSIN
- Wisconsin is 2-4-0 to begin the 2022-23 season and enters the weekend coming off a road sweep at No. 10 Minnesota Duluth.
- The Badgers return eight of their top-10 scorers from a season ago including each of its top-3 with Mathieu De St. Phalle, Corson Ceulemans and Brock Caufield each back for another season in Madison. De St. Phalle paced the Badgers with 10 goals and 22 points last season while Ceulemans also notched 22 points and had a team best 15 assists while ranking second along with Caufield with seven goals.
- Ceulemans and De St. Phalle picked right up where they left off last season and are tied for the Badger lead with five points on identical stat lines of one goal and four assists. Freshman Cruz Lucius leads the team with three goals.
- Jared Moe also returns in net for the Badgers and is joined by Mercyhurst transfer Kyle McClellan. Moe has started five of the first six games between the pipes posting a 2-3-0 record with a 2.83 goals-against average and a .923 save percentage. His save percentage ranks third in the Big Ten and tied for 18th nationally.
- The Badgers have struggled putting the puck in the net early this season ranking last in the Big Ten and 43rd nationally scoring just 2.33 goals per game.
- Wisconsin has struggled mightily on specialty teams early this season ranking last in the Big Ten and 41st nationally converting at just a 15 percent (3-for-20) clip on the man-advantage. The PK hasn't fared much better allowing seven goals on 24 chances for the opposition. The Badger PK ranks just above Minnesota and Penn State at fifth in the Big Ten with a 72 percent success rate. Penn State ranks last in the Big Ten killing off just 68.4 percent of opponent powerplays.
QUICK START
- Penn State has scored first in each of its six games this season after doing so 21 times a season ago going 16-4-1 when lighting the lamp first in 2021-22.
- Penn State has matched its best start to a season as the Nittany Lions are one of just two teams that remain unbeaten or untied after the first four weeks of the season joining No. 2 St. Cloud State at 6-0-0. The 6-0-0 start ties the best start in program history when Penn State also went 6-0-0 to begin the 2018-19 season.
- It is also just the third time in program history that Penn State has won six or more games in-a-row as in addition to the start to the 2018-19 season, The Nittany Lions won a program-best 11 games in-a-row during the 2016-17 season as part of a 13-game unbeaten streak en route to the first No. 1 national ranking in program history.
SHOOT TO SCORE
- Penn State is tied for the national lead with 31 goals this season averaging a national best 5.2 per contest during its 6-0-0 start. The 31 goals scored through the first six games this season match the 31 goals scored in the opening six games of the 2018-19 season as the most goals for Penn State in the first six games of a season in program history.
- Penn State is currently second in the Big Ten and tied for 11th nationally scoring a goal on 11.9 percent of its shots. The Nittany Lions lead the nation averaging 43.5 shots per game.
- On the contrary Penn State is allowing just 2.5 goals per game to rank tied for third in the Big Ten and 18th nationally.
QUICK STRIKE OFFENSE
- Two weeks ago, senor Ture Linden lit the lamp just seven seconds into the first period against Mercyhurst marking the fastest goal to open a game in Penn State history, a full six seconds faster than Casey Bailey's goal at UConn on January 5, 2013.
- Later in that game Penn State scored twice in the span of 81 seconds late in the second period as Kevin Wall and Dylan Gratton lit the lamp back-to-back.
- Penn State also had multiple instances during its opening series against Canisius where it scored twice in less than two minutes, however, this past week against St. Thomas the Nittany Lions took their quick strike offense to another level scoring three goals in 66 seconds in a 6-2 victory on Thursday and scoring twice in just 19 seconds during the first period the following night.
- On Thursday the first two goals came within 26 seconds of each other with the third being scored 40 seconds after the second.
- Penn State's record for fastest consecutive goals dates back to the 2016-17 season when Dylan Richard and Chase Berger scored just nine seconds apart against Michigan State on January 14, 2017.
MR. OT
- Senior Connor McMenamin scored the overtime winner last Friday against St. Thomas marking the seventh game-winning goal of his career and the third that has come during the extra session.
- McMenamin is now tied for fifth all-time at Penn State with his seven game-winning goals. McMenamin has 17 career goals to his name meaning 41.2 percent of his goals have resulted in game winners.
- McMenamin is also just two games shy of 100 for his career, so should he skate in both games this weekend, Saturday will mark the 100th of his career.
DOWD AND IN
- Junior Jimmy Dowd Jr. has one goal and six assists for seven points through the first six games this season having registered at least one point in five of the six games. Dowd's seven points are tied for the Big Ten lead among defensemen and rank tied for sixth nationally for blueliners.
- Dowd's 38 career points and 32 career assists are each good for eighth all-time at Penn State among defensemen.
STAY POSITIVE
- Penn State has four players among the top five nationally in plus/minus and six of the top-11 led by senior Kevin Wall who leads the nation at plus-11 with linemate Ryan Kirwan and Jimmy Dowd Jr. tied for second at plus-10. Senior Ture Linden is currently tied for fifth at plus-9 while Paul DeNaples and Ben Schoen rank tied for ninth and 11th at plus-8 and plus-7, respectively.
CONTROLLING THE DOT
- Penn State is currently leading the nation winning 59.5 percent (247-for-415) of its draws.
- Xander Lamppa leads Penn State at 67.6 percent (25-for-37) after going 22-for-33 against the Tommies last week. Lamppa leads the Big Ten in faceoff percentage among centers who average at least five faceoffs taken per game.
- Ture Linden and Connor MacEachern are right behind Lamppa at second and third in the Big Ten, respectively, winning 64.5 percent and 64.2 percent of their draws.
- All three players rank in the top-10 nationally in faceoff percentage while Linden's 78 wins are good for second in the Big Ten and tied for seventh nationally. MacEachern's 68 wins are fourth in the Big Ten and tied for 17th nationally.
OFFENSIVE OUTBURST
- Senior Ture Linden has announced his presence in Hockey Valley with authority having registered at least one point in five of his first six games at Penn State with four of those being multi-point efforts. His 10 points are tied for second in the Big Ten and fourth nationally through the opening month of competition. Linden's seven assists are also tied for second in the Big Ten while ranking tied for fourth nationally.
- Sophomore Ben Schoen has chipped in with eight points (2G, 6A) to rank tied for seventh in the Big Ten and 17th nationally.
- Senior Kevin Wall and sophomore Ryan Kirwan pace the Nittany Lions with four goals each to rank tied for fourth in the Big Ten and 15th nationally. Their seven points each are also tied for 10th in the Big Ten.
NEXT UP
- Penn State returns home to continue Big Ten play with a weekend series against the No. 4 Michigan Wolverines at Pegula Ice Arena.
- This marks the sixth time Penn State has opened its home conference slate against the Wolverines and the third-straight season. The Nittany Lions are just 2-3-0 with three-straight losses in B1G home openers against Michigan.
For more information on the 2022-23 season presented by the Penn State Bookstore: Official Bookstore of Penn State Athletics, visit the men's hockey page at GoPSUsports.com or call 1-800-NITTANY Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.