2. Three points never seemed so elusive, Part 2.
After beating Wisconsin 2-1 Friday night, the Nittany Lions pulled to within three points of second-place Michigan. Penn State had an opportunity Saturday to tie Michigan for points in the standings and have an upper hand with the tiebreaker; had the Nittany Lions beat the Badgers Saturday night, PSU would have had one more win than Michigan — given the Wolverines’ 6-5 loss to Ohio State Sunday — heading into next weekend’s series between the two teams in Yost Ice Arena.But the Nittany Lions didn’t win. Instead, after scoring early in the first period to take a 1-0 lead, PSU allowed four unanswered Wisconsin goals, two to end the first and two in the second. Freshman goaltender Matt Jurusik put in an heroic 46-save performance for the Badgers to help guarantee that win in Wisconsin’s last home game of the season.

Freshman Chris Funkey saw his third game action of the season for Penn State, playing the final 33:22 of the contest.Now the Nittany Lions need to sweep Michigan in Yost next weekend to capture second place in the final B1G standings and a first-round bye in the championship tournament, and — like Minnesota — Penn State will likely need to win the Big Ten tournament outright to get to the NCAA tournament.

Source: USCHO.com Blogs :: Big Ten Blog :: U.S. College Hockey Online