Friday, February 20
University Park, Pa.
8:30 p.m.
Ohio State
at
Penn State
Photo by: Ohio State Athletics
Buckeyes Take on No. 6 Penn State in Road Series
2/18/2026 4:54:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey
Teams will meet Friday and Saturday, with games on BTN
The Basics
- The Ohio State men's hockey team opens a stretch of four straight road games at No. 6 Penn State this weekend.Â
- The teams will meet at 8:30 p.m. Friday and 8 p.m. Saturday in Pegula Ice Arena in University Park, Pa.
- BTN will televise both games, with the broadcast also on the Fox Sports app.Â
- Ohio State Radio will carry the action (1460 AM Columbus, WBNS-FM-HD2, streamed on espncolumbus.com and OhioStateBuckeyes.com and on the Ohio State Buckeyes app).Â
- Live stats can be linked from the schedule page on OhioStateBuckeyes.com for both games.
- Ohio State is 11-16-1 on the year (7-11, 22 points Big Ten) and is coming off a split at home vs. No. 13 Wisconsin (L 2-4, W 3-2). Penn State (18-9-1, 10-7-1, 33 points B1G) skated to a 4-4 OT tie (shootout loss) and 6-3 loss at No. 2 Michigan last weekend.Â
- Ohio State's next four games are on the road, with two at No. 6 Penn State and two at No. 1 Michigan State. The regular season ends at home vs. Notre Dame March 5-6, with the series finale Senior Night for the Class of 2026.Â
- The Buckeyes (18 B1G games played) are tied with Minnesota (20 gp) for fifth place in the Big Ten with 22 points. Michigan (20 gp) is first with 43 points, followed by Michigan State (39 points, 18 gp), Penn State (33 points, 18 gp) and Wisconsin (30 points, 20 gp), with Notre Dame seventh (18 gp, 9 points). The regular season champion gets a bye in the quarterfinal round of the playoffs, with seeds 2-4 hosting seeds 5-7.
- Ohio State and Penn State met in Columbus Halloween weekend, with the Nittany Lions winning two one-goal games.Â
- The Buckeyes are scoring 2.96 goals per game this season, allowing 3.39 a contest.Â
- The power play is 17th nationally, converting 22.7 percent of its chances. The penalty kill has stopped 75.5 percent of its opponents' opportunities. Ohio State averages 11.36 penalty minutes a game. The Buckeyes are 19th nationally in faceoff winning percentage (.516).
- Jake Karabela leads the team with 25 points, followed by Davis Burnside with 23, Felix Caron with 22 and Max Montes with 21.
- Burnside and Montes have a team-best 11 goals, with Karabela, Riley Thompson and Adam Eiesle next with nine apiece.Â
- Karabela is first with 16 helpers this season, Broten Sabo ranks second with 15 and Caron has 14.
- Ohio State leads the all-time series with Penn State, 28-21-5, including a 10-7-3 mark in University Park.
- The teams met in Columbus Oct. 30-31, with Penn State posting two one-goal wins (3-2, 4-3).
- The last series on Penn State home ice was Jan. 24-25, 2025. Game one ended with a 6-6 overtime tie and Penn State shooutout win and the Nittany Lions prevailed in overtime in game two, 3-2.
- Davis Burnside leads the current Buckeyes with 18 games played against Penn State. He has a team-best 10 assists and 13 points vs. the Nittany Lions and is second with three goals. Riley Thompson is first with four goals and third with five points (7 games played). Max Montes has two goals and five assists for seven points in 11 career games vs. PSU. Ryan Gordon, Nathan McBrayer and Thomas Weis have also played 11 games against Penn State.Â
- Penn State is 18-9-1 overall this year, with an 11-4 home mark and 10-7-1 record in Big Ten play, standing in third place. The Nittany Lions are 10th in the country in scoring offense (3.57 goals per game) and are allowing 2.86 goals a night. The power play has converted 24.2 percent of its chances to rank 13th and the penalty kill has stopped 84.3 percent of its opponents' opportunities, ranking 10th in the NCAA. Penn State averages an NCAA-high 20.86 penalty minutes per game and is 11th nationally in faceoff winning percentage (.530).
- Gavin McKenna (1.27) and Matt DiMarsico (1.21) are in the Top 16 nationally in points per game and McKenna is eighth in assists per outing (.85), with Aiden Fink 14th (.81). Joshua Fleming is fourth in goalie save percentage (.934) and 15th in goals-against average (2.16).
- The Buckeyes have played in 12 one-goal games this campaign, with a 4-8 record in the contests.Â
- Last Saturday was the first time this season the Buckeyes rallied for a win after trailing through two periods. Ohio State scored two goals in the third to down Wisconsin, 3-2.
- Ohio State has played seven overtime games this season. The Buckeyes dropped their first four OT contests before defeating Minnesota Dec. 5 and then skating to a 2-2 tie against Bowling Green Jan. 3. The squad fell to Michigan Jan. 31 in overtime. Last year, Ohio State had 10 games go into overtime, with a 5-3-2 mark (including two postseason wins and a loss in double overtime in the Big Ten Tournament final).Â
- On the power play, the Buckeyes are 22-for-97 (.227), ranking 17th in the NCAA. Last time out against Wisconsin, Ohio State was 0-for-2 in game one and 0-for-1 in game two.
- Riley Thompson leads the Buckeyes with six power play goals. Felix Caron is next with five and Davis Burnside and Jake Karabela each have three. Nathan Lewis, Ryan Gordon, Thomas Weis and Max Montes have also tallied with the man advantage. Caron (5g, 7a) paces the Buckeyes with 12 power play points, followed by Karabela with 11 (4g, 7a) and Burnside (3g, 7a) and Broten Sabo (10a) with 10 each.Â
- Ohio State has a .516 faceoff winning percentage (895-839) to rank 19th in the nation. Max Montes leads the Buckeye squad with 239 wins, while Riley Thompson and Ryan Gordon each have 187 and Jake Karabela has 181. Among Buckeyes with more than 40 faceoffs, Montes is first with a .560 winning percentage (239-188).Â
- Ohio State is averaging 2.96 goals a game, with three or more goals in 15 games.Â
- The Buckeyes are allowing 3.39 goals per game and have given up three or fewer in four of the last five outings.Â
- Ohio State is 80-for-106 (.755) on the penalty kill this season. Against Wisconsin last week, the Buckeyes were 3-for-3 in game one on the penalty kill and allowed two goals on four chances in game two.
- The Buckeyes are averaging 31.68 shots a game this year. After a series when they had 46 shots in game one and 18 in game two vs. Minnesota, the Buckeyes had 28 and 23 in the two games vs. Wisconsin last week. Â
- Ohio State will play two games at No. 1 Michigan State, with an 8:30 p.m. start Feb. 27 and an 8 p.m. game Feb. 28. BTN will televise the series and Ohio State Radio will carry the action.
- A series vs. Notre Dame closes the regular season, with puck drop at 6:30 p.m. March 5 and March 6. The games will be on B1G+ and Ohio State Radio.
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Players Mentioned
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