Notre Dame hockey set for final road series at Michigan State

Notre Dame will return to the road this weekend for a two-game series at Michigan State, marking the final regular-season road series for the Irish (7 p.m. on Feb. 18-19). The Fighting Irish are 8-4-0 on the road this season. Notre Dame is coming …

Notre Dame will return to the road this weekend for a two-game series at Michigan State, marking the final regular-season road series for the Irish (7 p.m. on Feb. 18-19).

The Fighting Irish are 8-4-0 on the road this season.

Notre Dame is coming off a series split at Wisconsin, dropping game one 5-3 (Feb. 12) before rallying to take game two, 3-2 (Feb. 13).

With the win over the Badgers, Notre Dame locked up a top-four seed in the upcoming Big Ten Tournament.

Trevor Janicke had the game-winning goal and added an assist to lead the Irish to the game two win, while Matthew Galajda made 30 saves to earn the win.

The Fighting Irish head into the weekend fourth in the Big Ten standings with 35 points, while Michigan State ranks seventh with 14 points.

Jesse Lansdell carries a career-long, four-game point streak (2-2-4) into the weekend.

Max Ellis leads the Irish with a career-best 27 points on a team-high 16 goals and 11 assists.

Ellis’ 16 goals rank tied for 12th in the country (tied for third in the Big Ten).

Since returning from break on Jan. 1, Spencer Stastney has three goals and 10 assists for 13 points in 13 games and he has at least one point in 10 of the 13 games.

Stastney has a career-high 22 points on five goals and 17 assists.

Trevor Janicke ranks second on the team with a career-high 12 goals and has scored a goal in five of Notre Dame’s last seven games.

The Irish are 15-1-0 when scoring first this season and 19-1-0 when scoring at least three goals.

Notre Dame is 6-2-0 in overtime this season, with the OT game-winning goals coming from Cam Burke (at Michigan Tech), Ryder Rolston (at Michigan), Max Ellis (at Michigan and at Penn State), Spencer Stastney (at Ohio State) and Landon Slaggert (vs. Minnesota).

Notre Dame has made each of the last five NCAA Tournaments, the longest streak in program history, and eight of the last 11 NCAA Tournaments overall.

The five consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances is the second-longest active streak in the NCAA, trailing only Minnesota Duluth (6), with Minnesota State (3) and St Cloud State (3) tied for third.

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