The Spartans rebounded though in game two with a 5-1 victory in what has likely been their best and most complete performance of the 2020-21 season. Since then, Penn State faced Ohio State last weekend where they split the series. 

With such little time since they last played each other, Head Coach Danton Cole says that serves beneficially to both teams in their preparation. 

“Playing a team right back is nice," Cole said. "We have a lot of video of ourselves in a very timely segment, so we can watch ourselves. Sometimes you play them five months later and they’ve changed a lot of things ... You go in and you can talk to the guys and say hey this is how they forecheck and we know this, here’s a couple of clips and then you get right to work on it. It’s fresh in their minds as well.”

One thing in particular that stands out on paper about the Nittany Lions is their high-powered offense that has scored 3.08 goals per game this season. Alex Limoges and Kevin Wall lead the team in points with 11 each. Limoges, who scored one of the two PSU goals versus Michigan State, leads the team in goals with seven while Wall is tied for the team lead in assists at six. 

“I think we just need to play our style. I think they play a pretty rambunctious and crazy game. They try, and that’s kind of part of their game style is to be pretty hectic and create a lot of commotion all over the ice,” said Christian Krygier, who assisted on Josh Nodler’s game-winning goal Saturday versus Michigan.

On the other side of the ice, Penn State has struggled in between the pipes. They have split the 12 starts in net between Oskar Autio with eight and Liam Souliere with four. But neither has been the answer in the net that Head Coach Guy Gadowsky would like. The team is allowing 3.92 goals per game, which is one of the worst in the country.

Autio started in net in game one, recording his only shutout of the year, and Souliere started game two allowing four goals. 

Their offense combined with their subpar goaltending creates an environment for high scoring games, a playing style completely different than Michigan State whose strengths in 2020-21 include goaltending and defensive play. 

The Spartans should get a boost defensively this weekend as Nash Nienhuis has been back practicing this week after missing the last two games. Nienhuis, who has typically been paired with Tommy Miller, picked up the first point of his college career on an assist in game two versus Penn State. 

Michigan State and Penn State are neck and neck in the pairwise rankings at No. 26 and No. 27 respectively, setting up for what should be a fun weekend. The puck drops for game one at 6 p.m. on Friday and at 3 p.m. Saturday for game two. Both games will be broadcasted on BTN+.