Minnesota Gophers Hockey opens B1G play against Penn State Nittany Lions

The Minnesota Golden Gophers men's ice hockey team will open Big Ten Conference play this weekend when the Penn State Nittany Lions come to 3M Arena in Mariucci for a series. It will be a reunion for one of the current Gophers, as fifth-year senior goalie Liam Souliere will likely face the team he played for his first four seasons on Saturday night. He will look to help the Gophers keep their hot start going.

The Gophers moved up to No. 4 in the nation after a home win over St. Thomas last weekend. The Gophers conceded the first goal in both games and then outscored the Tommies 13-1 in the remaining two games. On Friday night at Mariucci Stadium, the Gophers came from behind to score seven straight goals, including three in the first game. Sam Rinzel scored two goals and added an assist. Jimmy Snuggerud added three assists and Connor Kurth scored the game-winning goal with two assists. Nathan Airey made 20 saves to make it 3-0 this season.

Saturday's game at the Xcel Energy Center was similar. The Tommies took an early 1-0 lead before the Gophers responded with five straight goals – including Brody Lamb's rare all-natural hat trick, which was a power-play goal. The teams traded a goal each in the third period and Souliere made 16 saves in the win. The Gophers picked up two Big Ten honors after the weekend, as Rinzel was named the Big Ten's top star of the week after a five-point weekend and Lamb was the second-best star of the week with four goals on the weekend.

Penn State enters conference play with a 4-1 season record so far. They moved up to No. 18 in the national rankings this week after a home game against St. Lawrence last weekend. Sophomore Aiden Fink has led the Nittany Lions' offensive production so far this season. He enters this weekend with points in each of Penn State's five games this season and nine overall this season. While Fink scored two goals, two Nittany Lions have three each, including Danny Dzhaniyev and Reese Laubach.

In goal it was another Russian who celebrated success at the beginning of the season. Junior goaltender Arsenii Sergeev has played every minute for the Nittany Lions this season and enters the weekend with a goals-against average of 1.79 and a save percentage of .928. However, the Nittany Lions have yet to face a team with Minnesota's offensive prowess this season.

The Gophers lead the nation with 5.5 goals per game, while Penn State averages 3.4 goals per game. Penn State allowed 1.8 goals per game while the Gophers conceded an average of 2 goals per game. What's somewhat shocking to college hockey fans who know Penn State is that they only average 30 shots on goal per game, which is well below their average over the past few seasons.

Special teams will always be interesting and this weekend will be no different. Penn State has a perfect 23-23 penalty kill record so far this season, while Minnesota is 5-21 on the power play, including three Lamb goals last Saturday. Penn State has scored on just 3 of 16 power play chances this season, while the Gophers have converted 12 of 14 penalties. Typically, the Gophers are one of the least penalized teams in the country, only receiving 5 penalty minutes per game, while Penn State averages over 12.5 penalty minutes per game. If Minnesota can score on the power play, that could be a big advantage.

The most interesting duel of the weekend might be Souliere against his former team. He is expected to be in the starting lineup Saturday night against the team he played for for four seasons. Before joining the Gophers, Souliere finished his Penn State career second all-time in wins (39), third in saves (2,067) and shutouts (3), fifth in goals against average (2.95) and seventh in saves (.897). He was good for Minnesota this season, going 2-1 with a 1.66 goals against average and a .926 save percentage.

Minnesota went 5-1 against Penn State a season ago, including a sweep in the quarterfinal round of the Big Ten Tournament. The Gophers were 4-0 at 3M Arena in Mariucci, with Justen Close posting two 3-0 shutouts in the regular season and Minnesota posting 5-1 and 3-2 victories in the postseason.

Both games this weekend will take place at 7 p.m. and will air on Fox9+. Both are also streaming on B1G+.

WATCH THIS:

#18 Penn State Nittany Lions @ #4 Minnesota Golden Gophers

Where: 3M Arena in Mariucci, Minneapolis, Minnesota

When: Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m

TV: Fox 9+

Stream: B1G+

Radio: 1130 AM/ 103.5 FM/ I Heart Radio/ Varsity Network App