By Jacob Messing

With just eight games left in their inaugural Big Ten season, the No. 2-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish have steamrolled the competition.

The Irish, 20-5-1 overall, have stormed through their league rivals by going 14-2-0 in conference play. It’s a decent step ahead of second-place Ohio State at 10-5-1. The two teams match up next weekend.

But looking ahead can get a team in trouble — especially when a very capable No. 17 Penn State Nittany Lions team awaits a second shot at them. The Irish and Nittany Lions met in early November, when a close series turned into a surprising sweep.

The Nittany Lions held the Irish to just 19 shots in their first meeting, but like any great team Notre Dame capitalized on their chances and pulled out a 5-3 victory. The following day, they squeaked out a 1-0 win for the series sweep.

The second game of the rematch series will be streamed live right here on FloHockey this weekend at 4 PM EST on Saturday, February 3.

The Irish are fresh off a significant bump in their run: a 16-game win streak came to a screeching halt after being shut out 5-0 by No. 18 Wisconsin.

“They wanted it more than we did tonight,” coach Jeff Jackson said following the loss to Wisconsin. “We’ll be facing that for the rest of the way — teams with that kind of intensity level.”

The following week, they were shut out again, this time 1-0 by Minnesota. It showed the hunger teams have when facing elite talent and with eyes on a national title; it’s a bad time for the offense to dry up.

Hey @TheRoarZone forecast for Friday? ⚪️⚪️⚪️⚪️⚪️⚪️ pic.twitter.com/y2a5Gp67nv

— Penn State Men’s Hockey (@PennStateMHKY) January 31, 2018

The Nittany Lions really came into form in mid-November when they took points in eight straight games to end the semester. They extended the streak to 11 games to start the New Year before a 5-1 loss to No. 6 Ohio State, and they’ve now gone 0-4-1 in their last five.

The Nittany Lions’ past eight games have all come against ranked opponents, and the long stretch of elite talent could be weighing on them. Coach Guy Gadowsky couldn’t quite put his finger on the reason for the slump, which has seen the nation’s highest scoring team pot just nine goals over the past five games.

“The real essence of it is to find the right balance between creativity and control,” Gadowsky told Patrick Burns of the Daily Collegian. “Do we have to get more tense and be more hungry or do you have to be loose and more creative?”

With six players all sitting with more than 20 points through 27 games, it’s a rare stretch of offensive invisibility, but it won’t last much longer.

Penn State has six games left on the season, and they’ll want to finish the year on a high note. A taste for revenge could be the spark the Nittany Lions need.

Don’t miss out on one of the best teams in the country, No. 2 Notre Dame, looking to stave off upset-minded No. 17 Penn State. You can catch all the action right here on FloHockey.

Have a question or a comment for Jacob Messing? You can find him on Twitter @JMessing23.