Second-to-last in the Big Ten, on a three-game losing run, with a below .500 win percentage — Penn State is playing far from its best following its most recent bye week.
With just four games remaining on its regular-season schedule, the blue and white will need to find its footing if it wants to make noise in the conference tournament.
Guy Gadowsky remains confident in his squad’s ability to compete at a high level, though, and he isn’t approaching the team’s remaining games with a spoiler mindset.
“We believe that we have a team that, when we put together our game, is really, really good,” Gadowsky said. “We believe that if we can put our game together consistently — we can make a run.”
While Penn State’s focus might be on itself, the Nittany Lions won’t have an easy road to redemption when Minnesota comes to town this weekend.
The No. 5 Golden Gophers are 7-3 in their last 10 games — a run that includes four straight wins and most recently, a road sweep of now-No. 11 Ohio State.
For the blue and white to upset the Gophers, it’ll need to deploy a similar approach to its victory over Minnesota from earlier in the season.
The 5-3 win was one of the squad’s best from the 2021-22 season, despite putting up its second-lowest shot total of the entire campaign.
Shot efficiency isn’t Penn State’s strong suit due to its usual high volume in the shot column, but on Nov. 20, Penn State made the most of its limited chances putting pucks on net.
Sophomore forward Chase McLane scored the team’s fifth and final goal in that win over the maroon and gold, but McLane won’t be available for the blue and white against Minnesota.
Gadowsky confirmed the sophomore is out through the playoffs, after sustaining a “lower-body injury” that forced him to leave the team’s last game against Notre Dame early.
The 6-foot-2 forward has often been described by his head coach as one of the team’s hardest-working and most-consistent players.
“He was an excellent penalty killer, in more ways than one,” Gadowsky said. “Not only in his play in the defensive zone, but he was often the guy that was out there to take faceoffs.”
In addition to his noticeable proficiency in the dot and on the kill, McLane was a proficient contributor offensively for the blue and white this season.
The Michigan native is currently the program’s eighth-leading scorer on the year and is tied for fifth in assists on the campaign.
Penn State will look to deploy a “next-man-up” mentality to address the loss of McLane moving forward.
“I'm not sure who's going to be playing in that position, but whoever it is, they've been playing all year to get that opportunity,” fifth-year senior utility player Adam Pilewicz said. “I'm excited to see whoever it is. I'm sure that they're ready for it and eager to prove themselves.”
While the Nittany Lions will miss most of McLane’s contributions, they could benefit by spending less time in the box.
The sophomore forward drew the third-most penalties on the team, gathering 11 on the year.
Box time has been a major damper on Penn State’s season, though the Nittany Lions believed they had figured it out before giving up seven total penalties in their two latest losses to Notre Dame.
Senior captain defenseman Paul DeNaples was confident his squad could get back on the right track this weekend as it relates to taking penalties.
“We were doing really good, and then we got away from it,” DeNaples said. “It's easy to refresh that — we just got to readdress that situation. But [I’m] not too concerned about this weekend for that.”
While Minnesota’s 37th-best power-play unit isn’t something the Nittany Lions should lose sleep over, they will likely need stout defense and solid goalie play to take down the 11th-ranked scoring offense of the Gophers.
With the loss of McLane and the continued uncertainty between the pipes, neither of those things are guaranteed.
Fifth-year senior Clayton Phillips, a Minnesota native and former Golden Gopher, pinpointed consistency and frame of mind as the keys to his team taking down the maroon and gold.
“We just need to make sure we show up with the right mentality both nights and stick to the game plan,” Phillips said. “If we do that, then all this all the chips fall into place.”
