After having success against Notre Dame when it came to Happy Valley earlier in the season, Penn State had a different outcome when it traveled to South Bend.
The Nittany Lions took things to overtime on both Friday and Saturday, earning a shootout victory in Game 1 and an overtime loss in Game 2.
Between an interesting goalie series and struggles on the faceoff, here’s where things went wrong in the final road series of the year.
Rollercoaster for McKenna
Coming off a historic weekend with two goals and eight assists, many thought McKenna was playing his best hockey of the year with the postseason on the horizon.
However, the Notre Dame series was a slightly different story, as he was held to three assists and no goals. Still a strong weekend, but down from the series a week prior, where McKenna was a sparkplug on offense.
Forward Gavin McKenna (72) skates down the ice during the Penn State men’s ice hockey game against Michigan State in West Shore Home Field at Beaver Stadium on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026 in University Park, Pa. The Spartans beat the Nittany Lions 5-4.
Megan Miller
The projected No. 1 pick in the 2026 NHL Draft put up a tied game-high seven shots on Friday and just one shot on Saturday.
McKenna’s forte this year has been his assists, as he leads the team and is tied atop the conference with 33 assists on the year. But once again, that area of his game was another struggle this weekend, tallying just one assist on Friday and two on Saturday.
Despite the slower weekend statistically, the highlight of McKenna’s matchups with Notre Dame was his shootout-winning goal on Friday.
Faceoff struggles
Notre Dame came into Friday’s contest with just a 6-22-4 record, a team Penn State statistically should’ve beaten if it executed the basics, even on the road.
However, the Nittany Lions struggled in many aspects this weekend, with the most notable being faceoffs.
Friday night was the more successful of the two, although Penn State only won 43.1% of faceoffs. Ben Schoen led the way, securing six of his nine attempts, while Aiden Fink and Shea Van Olm, typical wingers, struggled the most with just a 33.3% success rate.
Coming into the weekend, the blue and white had won a slim majority of its faceoffs this year, sitting at 52% win percentage.
On Saturday, that number dropped even more as the Nittany Lions earned just 34.4% of faceoffs, with Schoen once again leading the way with 62.5% success. On the other end, Nic Chin DeGraves, Reese Laubach and Luke Misa won just 13 faceoffs lost a combined 32 attempts, with Chin DeGraves going just 1-for-6.
Goalkeeper Josh Fleming (34) squats in the net during the Penn State men’s hockey game against Ohio State at the Pegula Ice Arena on Friday, Feb. 20, 2026 in University Park, Pa. The Nittany Lions beat the Buckeyes 11-4.
Noah Aberegg
Fleming to the rescue
Josh Fleming has had a slightly better record than Kevin Reidler this year, and that was on display once again this weekend.
Fleming recorded 33 saves against the Fighting Irish on Friday, as he recorded a 91.7% save percentage.
The freshman goaltender faced an onslaught of shots in the first period as Notre Dame recorded 16 shots, 13 of which were on goal and Fleming saved.
Arguably the biggest moment of Fleming’s weekend was his shootout success on Friday night, as he went 3-for-3, denying the Fighting Irish from tying things up from McKenna’s early shootout goal.
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