Neil’s Notebook: Big Ten Race Continues This Weekend on the Road
2/6/2020 10:02:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
By Neil Koepke
MSUSpartans.com staff writer
MINNEAPOLIS – Four weeks ago, college hockey's youngest team was trying to find its identity, working hard to get its game in sync, and striving to put some victories together.
For the Minnesota Golden Gophers, it's mission accomplished.
The Gophers are the hottest team in the Big Ten with a 7-1 record since Christmas and winners of five games in a row.
Suddenly, Minnesota, Michigan State and Notre Dame are tied for third place in the crazy Big Ten race. And they're only one point behind the two teams tied for first – Penn State and Ohio State.
The Spartans, coming off their bye weekend, resume their quest for the Big Ten regular-season championship – or at least home ice for the first round of the playoffs – this weekend against the surging Gophers.
MSU (13-12-1 overall, 9-6-1-0, Big Ten, 28 points) and Minnesota (12-10-4, 7-5-4-3, 28 points) meet in a two-game series at 8 p.m. on Friday and 6 p.m. Saturday at 3M Arena at Mariucci in Minneapolis.
Both teams have eight games remaining, as does sixth-place Michigan. Penn State, Ohio State, Notre Dame and seventh-place Wisconsin have six.
"It's a bit of a sprint to the finish and it makes it a lot of fun and exciting,'' MSU coach Danton Cole said. "This is where we wanted to be at the end of the season – playing for a Big Ten championship.''
The Spartans and Gophers played less than a month ago in East Lansing, with MSU winning the series opener, 4-1, and Minnesota holding on for a 2-0 victory in the second game to earn a split.
"I thought we had six good periods of hockey. We got a win and they got a win,'' Cole said. "They're a hot team and we'll have our hands full. Their goaltending – both of their guys have played well. (Jared) Moe came in and had a shutout against us.
"They have a couple of freshman defensemen (Jackson LaCombe and Ryan Johnson) who are getting over the hump and starting to play well.''
The Gophers' win at Munn Arena started their five-game winning streak. They followed up with a home sweep of Ohio State and two victories at Wisconsin last weekend.
Instead of just trying to climb out of sixth or seventh places, Minnesota now has its sights set on the very top of the Big Ten.
"I think they're line of (Ben) Meyers, (Sampo) Ranta and (Brannon) McManus has really caught fire. You start getting that scoring and the way the games are tight, that's kind of put them over the top.''
Two weeks ago, Michigan State played Penn State in what was termed as the most important series for the Spartans in several years. MSU won the first game, 4-2, and lost the series finale 2-1 in overtime.
Now, here's another "most important" series, and there's probably three more to follow – Michigan at home and in Detroit, Ohio State at home and Notre Dame on the road.
"We're taking every series as a playoff series, and the next game is always the most important one,'' senior center Patrick Khodorenko said. "We're treating every team like they're the No. 1 team in the country. And we feel we can beat any team in the country if we play our game.
"Minnesota is a skilled team and can make plays right off the bat. They scored on the first shift against in the second game here.''
Goalie John Lethemon, who has the best save percentage (.943) in the nation and best goals-against average (1.88) in the Big Ten, said the Spartans are getting used to playing in important series at home and on the road.
"Every series in the Big Ten so big. You look at the standings and everybody (in the top 5) is within a point. Anybody, 1 through 5 could come out of this and win it.
"Our guys, for sure, will be up for the challenge. We're excited about the opportunity and see where we can take it. At the end of the day, we just have to keep playing how we've played all year.
"Every weekend, you're laying it all out there. We've been playing playoff hockey for a long time, but we're going to ramp that up even more.''
With five teams bunched together at the top and six in the hunt for first place and home ice for the playoffs by finishing in the top four, series sweeps – and not getting swept – will be key factors in where the contenders finish on Feb. 29, the last day of the regular season.
The Spartans played one of their best games of the season in their 4-1 win over Minnesota at Munn Arena on Jan. 10. They held the Gophers to seven shots on goal through two periods, but Minnesota had 20 shots on goal in the third period, mainly due to six power plays.
Lethemon lost his bid for a shutout when Minnesota scored a power-play goal by Lacombe with 6:22 left.
In the second game of that series, the Gophers' Scott Reedy scored at 1:40 of the first period, and Minnesota played a strong defensive game and held on for a 2-0 victory, sealed by an empty-net goal by Meyers with 1:28 left.
"The third period on Friday got away from us penalty-wise and they got a lot of shots on goal, but we stuck together and overall had a really good game,'' said Khodorenko, MSU's leading scorer with 14 goals and 28 points. "I thought we had a good game the second night. They got that one bounce that went their way, and without it, maybe it's 0-0 going into overtime.
"Minnesota played pretty well defensively and played a good physical game and kind of shut it down with the 1-0 lead. And we didn't help ourselves in that game. We turned the puck over a few times and we just weren't there offensively.''
Even after 26 games and with only eight left in the regular season, the Spartan coaches are still emphasizing the need to improve individually and in different areas.
"We're constantly stressing to get better. You never want to say that we're set in this area or that area,'' Cole said. "You always have to backtrack and go over things you've been doing.
"There's definitely things we've been working on lately. You look at the games we've lost. They're 1-0, 2-0 games with an open-netter. It's finding that little bit of extra scoring and spending time on that.
"Whether it's defensemen getting pucks on net or making a quick read in front of the net . . . and it's working on rebounds and spacing in the offensive zone. That's part of it but it's also coming through (the neutral zone) and establishing a forecheck and trying to get chances off the rush.''
The Spartans are averaging 2.54 goals a game. That's No. 6 in the Big Ten. Defensively, MSU has solid 2.27 goal-against average, No. 2 in the conference.
"If we can find a way to manufacture another goal or two, that's when we win hockey games,'' the Spartans coach said. "That's what playoff hockey is. We've spent a decent amount of time on that.''
THE MSU-MINNESOTA RIVALRY: Minnesota leads the series 119-49-16. The first meeting was on Feb. 19, 1926 – a 2-0 win by the Gophers in a home game for the Spartans. The teams didn't play again until the 1949-50 season, and the well-established Minnesota program ran off 22 straight victories until MSU managed to tie the Gophers, 5-5, in 1955. The Spartans' first win and sweep of Minnesota came in February, 1957 – 2-1 and 4-0 victories in East Lansing.
Last season, Michigan State and Minnesota split their series in Minneapolis in November, 2018. The Gophers won the first game, 7-2, and the Spartans captured the series finale, 4-2. The Spartans swept Minnesota, 5-3, 5-3, at Munn Arena on Jan. 19-20, 2019, to win the season series, 3-1.
Over the last 10 meetings, the Gophers hold a 6-4 edge. In the last five, MSU is 4-1.
SCOUTING THE GOPHERS: Minnesota started the season 3-1 but then went into a tailspin and won only two of its next 14 games (2-8-4) up until Christmas. The Gophers' turnaround started with a pair of victories in their holiday tournament – the Mariucci Classic – Dec. 28-29. They defeated Bemidji State, 5-2, and St. Cloud State, 4-1.
Two weeks later, Minnesota lost the series opener against Michigan State, 4-1, at Munn Arena, but rebounded to earn a series split with a 2-0 win in the second game.
After losing an exhibition game to the U.S. Under-18 Team, 2-1, the Gophers swept Ohio State, 6-3, 4-1, at home, and Wisconsin, 6-2, 4-2, in Madison.
At one point, Minnesota slipped to four games under .500 at 5-9-4, but with a 7-1 record since Christmas, the Gophers are two games above .500 at 12-10-4.
Minnesota, the youngest team in college hockey with an average age of 20 years and 240 days, has only three seniors in the lineup and usually nine freshmen, including three on defense, and seven sophomores.
Minnesota averages 2.92 goals per game, which ranks No. 3 in the Big Ten. Defensively, the Gophers have a 2.88 goals-against average, No. 6 in the conference.
The Gophers' top scoring threats include junior Brannon McManus (8 goals, 12 assists, 20 points), freshman Ben Meyers (6-14-20), sophomores Sammy Walker (9-10-19 and Sampo Ranta (10-7-17), junior Scott Reedy (11-4-15) and sophomore Blake McLaughlin (4-9-13). Walker was the Big Ten Freshman of the Year last season.
The defense includes seniors Tyler Nanne (3-8-11) and Ryan Zuhlsdorf (0-6-6), sophomores Robbie Stucker (2-4-6) and Ben Brinkman (0-3-3) and freshmen Jackson LaCombe (1-10-11), Ryan Johnson (0-7-7) and Matt Staudacher (1-4-5).
The Gophers have three new goaltenders this season – Jack LaFontaine, a junior who played two seasons at Michigan and one back in junior hockey before transferring to Minnesota, and freshmen Jared Moe, who shut out MSU 2-0 on Jan. 11, and Justen Close, who's played in only three games.
Moe is 6-4-1 with a 2.45 GAA and a .915 save percentage, while LaFontaine is 6-6-3 with a 2.93 GAA and a .903 save percentage.
Moe replaced LaFontaine six minutes into the second period of last Friday's 6-2 win at Wisconsin. Moe then started Saturday's series finale, won by the Gophers, 4-2.
For the seventh and eighth times this season, the Spartans will be playing on a bigger ice sheet than the normal 200 feet by 85 feet. Like Northern Michigan, Colorado College, Minnesota's rink is Olympic-size – 200 x 100 feet wide. Wisconsin's is 200 x 97.
There's adjustments to be made but the Spartans are used to adapting. They're 3-3 against NMU, Colorado College and Wisconsin with splits in all three series.
"There's a little more time and space and the way we play (defensively), it's to our advantage since we can keep guys to the outside,'' MSU goalie John Lethemon said. "I'll be seeing more outside shots, hopefully.
"The thing that's scary about Minnesota is they do transition very quickly, and have guys up front who are skilled and can make plays in the middle of the ice. We have to be aware of that.''
Said center Patrick Khodorenko: "We have to be a little more patient in the neutral zone. We're going to have a lot of space to make plays, and defensively we don't want to be running all over the place.
"If we have two guys going in on one guy, they can expose us. We just have to play smart, play physical, rub them out and hit them when we can.''
Coach Bob Motzko is in his second season with the Gophers after a 14-year stay as head coach at St. Cloud State. He has a 30-26-8 record at Minnesota and a 16-year career record of 306-218-57.
Motzko, 58, served as an assistant coach at St. Cloud State, Miami, Denver and Minnesota, where was part of the staff that guided the Gophers to NCAA titles in 2002 and 2003.
SPECIAL TEAMS UPDATE: Michigan State started the season with its power-play and penalty-killing units pretty busy. In the first eight games, the Spartans had 28 power plays and scored nine goals. Penalty killers faced 38 opponents' power plays and they capitalized with 11 goals. MSU gave up at least one power-play goal in the first six games.
Things have changed a lot in the last seven games as fewer penalties are being called. During this stretch, MSU has had only 20 power-play chances and scored three goals. Three times the Spartans had only two power plays and three times they had three.
Opponents have had 22 power plays but MSU has allowed only two goals in the last seven contests and none in the last five games. In three of the last four games, the Spartans have had to skate off one power play, including both games against Penn State two weeks ago.
"Our power play has been average. And the way the game is being refereed, there's not a lot of chances,'' Coach Danton Cole said. "But those are influential minutes. We probably have spent more time than usual on that here in the last little bit.
"We're trying to get the guys enough reps and approximate what they would get in a game.''
The MSU power play is converting on 18.4 percent of its chances. That's No. 34 in the nation and 4th in the Big Ten. The Spartans' penalty killing units are skating off 83.5 percent of opponents' chances, ranking 20th nationally and No. 2 in the conference.
Michigan State has scored 14 power-play goals. Patrick Khodorenko and Mitchell Lewandowski have three apiece. Defenseman Dennis Cesana has scored two.
The most productive power play in the nation belongs to Harvard at 30.8 percent. Penn State is No. 1 in the Big Ten with a 26.3 percent success rate. The best penalty-killing team is Clarkson, which is skating off 92.8 percent of opponents' chances. The Nittany Lions are also No. 1 in the Big Ten in penalty killing at 86.6 percent.
IN THE BIG TEN: In a showdown between first-place teams, Penn State is at Ohio State on Friday and Saturday. The Buckeyes are 2-3-1-0 in their last six games, and are coming off a series split with Michigan last weekend – a 3-2 loss and 4-1 victory.
The Nittany Lions are 1-3-2-0 in their last six games. Last weekend, they tied and lost at home against Notre Dame – 3-3 and 4-2. Penn State lost in the shootout and came away with only one point in the series.
In their first meeting of the season, the Nittany Lions and the Buckeyes split a series at University Park, Pa. – a 5-4 PSU win and a 4-3 OSU victory.
In the other conference series, seventh-place Wisconsin (10-15-1, 5-12-1-1, 17 points) plays at sixth-place Michigan (11-12-3, 6-8-2-1, 21 points), also on Friday and Saturday. The teams split an earlier series in Madison over Thanksgiving Weekend – a 3-2 Badgers win and a 3-1 U-M victory.
The Wolverines, 4-1-1 in their last six games, are seven points behind second-place MSU, Minnesota and Notre Dame. Michigan has two games in hand on the Irish but has played as many games as the Spartans and Gophers. Notre Dame has a bye this weekend.
TOP 5 BEST NCAA RECORDS: 1, (tie) Minnesota State (24-4-2, .833), North Dakota (21-3-3, .833); 3. Cornell (15-2-4, .810); 4. Clarkson (19-6-2, .741); 5. Denver (17-6-5, .696.).
TOP 5 WORST NCAA RECORDS: 1. Alabama Huntsville (2-20-4, .154); 2. St. Lawrence (3-20-4, .185); 3. Vermont (3-18-4, .200); 4. Mercyhurst (5-20-1, .212); 5. (tie) Brown (5-16-0, .238); Princeton (3-14-4, .238).
MSUSpartans.com staff writer
MINNEAPOLIS – Four weeks ago, college hockey's youngest team was trying to find its identity, working hard to get its game in sync, and striving to put some victories together.
For the Minnesota Golden Gophers, it's mission accomplished.
The Gophers are the hottest team in the Big Ten with a 7-1 record since Christmas and winners of five games in a row.
Suddenly, Minnesota, Michigan State and Notre Dame are tied for third place in the crazy Big Ten race. And they're only one point behind the two teams tied for first – Penn State and Ohio State.
The Spartans, coming off their bye weekend, resume their quest for the Big Ten regular-season championship – or at least home ice for the first round of the playoffs – this weekend against the surging Gophers.
MSU (13-12-1 overall, 9-6-1-0, Big Ten, 28 points) and Minnesota (12-10-4, 7-5-4-3, 28 points) meet in a two-game series at 8 p.m. on Friday and 6 p.m. Saturday at 3M Arena at Mariucci in Minneapolis.
Both teams have eight games remaining, as does sixth-place Michigan. Penn State, Ohio State, Notre Dame and seventh-place Wisconsin have six.
"It's a bit of a sprint to the finish and it makes it a lot of fun and exciting,'' MSU coach Danton Cole said. "This is where we wanted to be at the end of the season – playing for a Big Ten championship.''
The Spartans and Gophers played less than a month ago in East Lansing, with MSU winning the series opener, 4-1, and Minnesota holding on for a 2-0 victory in the second game to earn a split.
"I thought we had six good periods of hockey. We got a win and they got a win,'' Cole said. "They're a hot team and we'll have our hands full. Their goaltending – both of their guys have played well. (Jared) Moe came in and had a shutout against us.
"They have a couple of freshman defensemen (Jackson LaCombe and Ryan Johnson) who are getting over the hump and starting to play well.''
The Gophers' win at Munn Arena started their five-game winning streak. They followed up with a home sweep of Ohio State and two victories at Wisconsin last weekend.
Instead of just trying to climb out of sixth or seventh places, Minnesota now has its sights set on the very top of the Big Ten.
"I think they're line of (Ben) Meyers, (Sampo) Ranta and (Brannon) McManus has really caught fire. You start getting that scoring and the way the games are tight, that's kind of put them over the top.''
Two weeks ago, Michigan State played Penn State in what was termed as the most important series for the Spartans in several years. MSU won the first game, 4-2, and lost the series finale 2-1 in overtime.
Now, here's another "most important" series, and there's probably three more to follow – Michigan at home and in Detroit, Ohio State at home and Notre Dame on the road.
"We're taking every series as a playoff series, and the next game is always the most important one,'' senior center Patrick Khodorenko said. "We're treating every team like they're the No. 1 team in the country. And we feel we can beat any team in the country if we play our game.
"Minnesota is a skilled team and can make plays right off the bat. They scored on the first shift against in the second game here.''
Goalie John Lethemon, who has the best save percentage (.943) in the nation and best goals-against average (1.88) in the Big Ten, said the Spartans are getting used to playing in important series at home and on the road.
"Every series in the Big Ten so big. You look at the standings and everybody (in the top 5) is within a point. Anybody, 1 through 5 could come out of this and win it.
"Our guys, for sure, will be up for the challenge. We're excited about the opportunity and see where we can take it. At the end of the day, we just have to keep playing how we've played all year.
"Every weekend, you're laying it all out there. We've been playing playoff hockey for a long time, but we're going to ramp that up even more.''
With five teams bunched together at the top and six in the hunt for first place and home ice for the playoffs by finishing in the top four, series sweeps – and not getting swept – will be key factors in where the contenders finish on Feb. 29, the last day of the regular season.
The Spartans played one of their best games of the season in their 4-1 win over Minnesota at Munn Arena on Jan. 10. They held the Gophers to seven shots on goal through two periods, but Minnesota had 20 shots on goal in the third period, mainly due to six power plays.
Lethemon lost his bid for a shutout when Minnesota scored a power-play goal by Lacombe with 6:22 left.
In the second game of that series, the Gophers' Scott Reedy scored at 1:40 of the first period, and Minnesota played a strong defensive game and held on for a 2-0 victory, sealed by an empty-net goal by Meyers with 1:28 left.
"The third period on Friday got away from us penalty-wise and they got a lot of shots on goal, but we stuck together and overall had a really good game,'' said Khodorenko, MSU's leading scorer with 14 goals and 28 points. "I thought we had a good game the second night. They got that one bounce that went their way, and without it, maybe it's 0-0 going into overtime.
"Minnesota played pretty well defensively and played a good physical game and kind of shut it down with the 1-0 lead. And we didn't help ourselves in that game. We turned the puck over a few times and we just weren't there offensively.''
Even after 26 games and with only eight left in the regular season, the Spartan coaches are still emphasizing the need to improve individually and in different areas.
"We're constantly stressing to get better. You never want to say that we're set in this area or that area,'' Cole said. "You always have to backtrack and go over things you've been doing.
"There's definitely things we've been working on lately. You look at the games we've lost. They're 1-0, 2-0 games with an open-netter. It's finding that little bit of extra scoring and spending time on that.
"Whether it's defensemen getting pucks on net or making a quick read in front of the net . . . and it's working on rebounds and spacing in the offensive zone. That's part of it but it's also coming through (the neutral zone) and establishing a forecheck and trying to get chances off the rush.''
The Spartans are averaging 2.54 goals a game. That's No. 6 in the Big Ten. Defensively, MSU has solid 2.27 goal-against average, No. 2 in the conference.
"If we can find a way to manufacture another goal or two, that's when we win hockey games,'' the Spartans coach said. "That's what playoff hockey is. We've spent a decent amount of time on that.''
THE MSU-MINNESOTA RIVALRY: Minnesota leads the series 119-49-16. The first meeting was on Feb. 19, 1926 – a 2-0 win by the Gophers in a home game for the Spartans. The teams didn't play again until the 1949-50 season, and the well-established Minnesota program ran off 22 straight victories until MSU managed to tie the Gophers, 5-5, in 1955. The Spartans' first win and sweep of Minnesota came in February, 1957 – 2-1 and 4-0 victories in East Lansing.
Last season, Michigan State and Minnesota split their series in Minneapolis in November, 2018. The Gophers won the first game, 7-2, and the Spartans captured the series finale, 4-2. The Spartans swept Minnesota, 5-3, 5-3, at Munn Arena on Jan. 19-20, 2019, to win the season series, 3-1.
Over the last 10 meetings, the Gophers hold a 6-4 edge. In the last five, MSU is 4-1.
SCOUTING THE GOPHERS: Minnesota started the season 3-1 but then went into a tailspin and won only two of its next 14 games (2-8-4) up until Christmas. The Gophers' turnaround started with a pair of victories in their holiday tournament – the Mariucci Classic – Dec. 28-29. They defeated Bemidji State, 5-2, and St. Cloud State, 4-1.
Two weeks later, Minnesota lost the series opener against Michigan State, 4-1, at Munn Arena, but rebounded to earn a series split with a 2-0 win in the second game.
After losing an exhibition game to the U.S. Under-18 Team, 2-1, the Gophers swept Ohio State, 6-3, 4-1, at home, and Wisconsin, 6-2, 4-2, in Madison.
At one point, Minnesota slipped to four games under .500 at 5-9-4, but with a 7-1 record since Christmas, the Gophers are two games above .500 at 12-10-4.
Minnesota, the youngest team in college hockey with an average age of 20 years and 240 days, has only three seniors in the lineup and usually nine freshmen, including three on defense, and seven sophomores.
Minnesota averages 2.92 goals per game, which ranks No. 3 in the Big Ten. Defensively, the Gophers have a 2.88 goals-against average, No. 6 in the conference.
The Gophers' top scoring threats include junior Brannon McManus (8 goals, 12 assists, 20 points), freshman Ben Meyers (6-14-20), sophomores Sammy Walker (9-10-19 and Sampo Ranta (10-7-17), junior Scott Reedy (11-4-15) and sophomore Blake McLaughlin (4-9-13). Walker was the Big Ten Freshman of the Year last season.
The defense includes seniors Tyler Nanne (3-8-11) and Ryan Zuhlsdorf (0-6-6), sophomores Robbie Stucker (2-4-6) and Ben Brinkman (0-3-3) and freshmen Jackson LaCombe (1-10-11), Ryan Johnson (0-7-7) and Matt Staudacher (1-4-5).
The Gophers have three new goaltenders this season – Jack LaFontaine, a junior who played two seasons at Michigan and one back in junior hockey before transferring to Minnesota, and freshmen Jared Moe, who shut out MSU 2-0 on Jan. 11, and Justen Close, who's played in only three games.
Moe is 6-4-1 with a 2.45 GAA and a .915 save percentage, while LaFontaine is 6-6-3 with a 2.93 GAA and a .903 save percentage.
Moe replaced LaFontaine six minutes into the second period of last Friday's 6-2 win at Wisconsin. Moe then started Saturday's series finale, won by the Gophers, 4-2.
For the seventh and eighth times this season, the Spartans will be playing on a bigger ice sheet than the normal 200 feet by 85 feet. Like Northern Michigan, Colorado College, Minnesota's rink is Olympic-size – 200 x 100 feet wide. Wisconsin's is 200 x 97.
There's adjustments to be made but the Spartans are used to adapting. They're 3-3 against NMU, Colorado College and Wisconsin with splits in all three series.
"There's a little more time and space and the way we play (defensively), it's to our advantage since we can keep guys to the outside,'' MSU goalie John Lethemon said. "I'll be seeing more outside shots, hopefully.
"The thing that's scary about Minnesota is they do transition very quickly, and have guys up front who are skilled and can make plays in the middle of the ice. We have to be aware of that.''
Said center Patrick Khodorenko: "We have to be a little more patient in the neutral zone. We're going to have a lot of space to make plays, and defensively we don't want to be running all over the place.
"If we have two guys going in on one guy, they can expose us. We just have to play smart, play physical, rub them out and hit them when we can.''
Coach Bob Motzko is in his second season with the Gophers after a 14-year stay as head coach at St. Cloud State. He has a 30-26-8 record at Minnesota and a 16-year career record of 306-218-57.
Motzko, 58, served as an assistant coach at St. Cloud State, Miami, Denver and Minnesota, where was part of the staff that guided the Gophers to NCAA titles in 2002 and 2003.
SPECIAL TEAMS UPDATE: Michigan State started the season with its power-play and penalty-killing units pretty busy. In the first eight games, the Spartans had 28 power plays and scored nine goals. Penalty killers faced 38 opponents' power plays and they capitalized with 11 goals. MSU gave up at least one power-play goal in the first six games.
Things have changed a lot in the last seven games as fewer penalties are being called. During this stretch, MSU has had only 20 power-play chances and scored three goals. Three times the Spartans had only two power plays and three times they had three.
Opponents have had 22 power plays but MSU has allowed only two goals in the last seven contests and none in the last five games. In three of the last four games, the Spartans have had to skate off one power play, including both games against Penn State two weeks ago.
"Our power play has been average. And the way the game is being refereed, there's not a lot of chances,'' Coach Danton Cole said. "But those are influential minutes. We probably have spent more time than usual on that here in the last little bit.
"We're trying to get the guys enough reps and approximate what they would get in a game.''
The MSU power play is converting on 18.4 percent of its chances. That's No. 34 in the nation and 4th in the Big Ten. The Spartans' penalty killing units are skating off 83.5 percent of opponents' chances, ranking 20th nationally and No. 2 in the conference.
Michigan State has scored 14 power-play goals. Patrick Khodorenko and Mitchell Lewandowski have three apiece. Defenseman Dennis Cesana has scored two.
The most productive power play in the nation belongs to Harvard at 30.8 percent. Penn State is No. 1 in the Big Ten with a 26.3 percent success rate. The best penalty-killing team is Clarkson, which is skating off 92.8 percent of opponents' chances. The Nittany Lions are also No. 1 in the Big Ten in penalty killing at 86.6 percent.
IN THE BIG TEN: In a showdown between first-place teams, Penn State is at Ohio State on Friday and Saturday. The Buckeyes are 2-3-1-0 in their last six games, and are coming off a series split with Michigan last weekend – a 3-2 loss and 4-1 victory.
The Nittany Lions are 1-3-2-0 in their last six games. Last weekend, they tied and lost at home against Notre Dame – 3-3 and 4-2. Penn State lost in the shootout and came away with only one point in the series.
In their first meeting of the season, the Nittany Lions and the Buckeyes split a series at University Park, Pa. – a 5-4 PSU win and a 4-3 OSU victory.
In the other conference series, seventh-place Wisconsin (10-15-1, 5-12-1-1, 17 points) plays at sixth-place Michigan (11-12-3, 6-8-2-1, 21 points), also on Friday and Saturday. The teams split an earlier series in Madison over Thanksgiving Weekend – a 3-2 Badgers win and a 3-1 U-M victory.
The Wolverines, 4-1-1 in their last six games, are seven points behind second-place MSU, Minnesota and Notre Dame. Michigan has two games in hand on the Irish but has played as many games as the Spartans and Gophers. Notre Dame has a bye this weekend.
TOP 5 BEST NCAA RECORDS: 1, (tie) Minnesota State (24-4-2, .833), North Dakota (21-3-3, .833); 3. Cornell (15-2-4, .810); 4. Clarkson (19-6-2, .741); 5. Denver (17-6-5, .696.).
TOP 5 WORST NCAA RECORDS: 1. Alabama Huntsville (2-20-4, .154); 2. St. Lawrence (3-20-4, .185); 3. Vermont (3-18-4, .200); 4. Mercyhurst (5-20-1, .212); 5. (tie) Brown (5-16-0, .238); Princeton (3-14-4, .238).
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