Penn State men’s hockey faces another big challenge with two-day series at Michigan

Another weekend, another big challenge — or maybe it’s an opportunity — for the Penn State men’s hockey team.

Whatever you call the two-game road series against fourth-ranked Michigan that begins Friday depends on your perspective. For the struggling Nittany Lions, maybe everything must be an opportunity — because things can only get better.

Entering this weekend Penn State sits last in the Big Ten Conference standings with nine points through a dozen games. Michigan sits atop the standings with 25 points.

Penn State’s last series was a heartbreaker. It lost two games at home to 13th-ranked Notre Dame, and the second loss was a 5-4 decision when the Fighting Irish netted the decisive goal with just two-tenths of a second remaining in the overtime.

Penn State played penalty-free in that game for the first time this season, though.

“That is very positive. Obviously, it played a big role in the performance that we had,” coach Guy Gadowsky said. “I think ... the takeaway is that we can do it. We’ve been struggling all year to win the power play opportunity battle.”

While Michigan leads most conference offensive categories, it’s also the Big Ten’s most-penalized team. It’s been whistled 113 times for an average of 14:39 penalty minutes per game. Penn State is next with 108 with a a 12:49 average. Extending that unpenalized streak to two games might be a challenge for the Nittany Lions.

Still, there’s obviously opportunity in the consistently competitive Big Ten.

Since a sweep of Penn State earlier this season, Michigan has gone 3-5 in conference play and it has not played a conference game in 34 days. The Wolverines swept a series against defending national champion Massachusetts last weekend in Ann Arbor.

Penn State (12-10-0, 3-9-0 Big Ten) at No. 4 Michigan (16-6-1, 7-5-0)

Series: 7:30 p.m. Friday, 7 p.m. Saturday

Radio/TV: 103.1 FM and GoPSUsports.com

Notable: Michigan leads the all-time series, 20-14-1, and swept Penn State at Pegula Ice Arena earlier this season, 5-1 and 6-2. … Three Michigan players lead the conference in scoring. That’s Kent Johnson with 28 points, followed by Brendan Brisson (27) and Matty Beniers (26). … Penn State’s Connor MacEachern (22) and Kevin Wall (20) sit seventh and 10th on that list. … Michigan goalie Erik Portillo averages a conference-best 25.87 saves per game. … His counterpart, Oskar Autio, averages 26.18, fifth best in the conference.