Penn State Hockey enters Saturday night’s matchup after blowing a two-goal lead and losing in overtime against No. 17 Michigan State.

The road only gets harder from here for the Nittany Lions, and this is a MUST win game for a team ranked No. 4 in the country coming into this series.

The next four weekends all resemble top 20 ranked pairwise opponents in (No. 18) Notre Dame, (No. 8) Michigan, (No. 6) Ohio State, and (No. 1) Minnesota.

If Penn State Hockey hopes to remain a National Championship contender, it begins with bouncing back against Michigan State.

Disaster Recap

Penn State had Hockey outshot the Spartans 44-34 Friday night and still squandered a two-goal third-period lead.

Also, important to note that while Liam Souliere has played some outstanding hockey this year, he seems to struggle against this squad. Posting a 2-2-0 record with a 3.72 goals-against average and a .860 save percentage in five starts, now letting Sparty goaltender Dylan St. Cyr go for the sweep tonight. Kevin Wall was also held without a point, breaking a six-game point streak.

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Prediction

The Nittany Lions will need four-plus goals tonight to have a chance at a split, finding ways to score against stellar goaltender Dylan St. Cyr.

The only way Penn State gets the split is if Kevin Wall gets back in the point column, accompanied by his linemates Conner MacEachern and Connor McMenamin.

Not to be dramatic, but a loss in this game would set expectations tumbling downward for the second half of the season.

When you are No. 4 in the country, you MUST take care of business and avoid a sweep at all costs, save the series split for a matchup like No. 1 ranked Minnesota. 

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