No. 10 Penn State men’s hockey returns to action this weekend with a rare one-off against No. 13 Princeton at 7 p.m. Friday at Pegula Ice Arena.

Guy Gadowsky will face off against his former team for just the third time as Penn State’s head coach, and the Tigers will certainly give his Nittany Lions a test.

The General

This is most college hockey teams’ third week of the 2018-19 season, but Princeton has not played a game yet. The Tigers will open their campaign in Hockey Valley.

Gadowsky’s old team will start the year with momentum — the Tigers finished last season with a 19-13-4 record. They received an automatic bid in the NCAA tournament after beating Clarkson in the ECAC championship game.

Princeton was placed in the same midwest region of the NCAA tournament as the Nittany Lions, but lost in the first round to Ohio State. The Buckeyes beat Denver — who beat Penn State 5-1 in the other regional semifinal — to clinch a spot in the Frozen Four.

On offense, Princeton returns the nation’s two top returning point scorers from last season’s team. Max Veronneau scored 55 points for the Tigers last year, and Ryan Kuffner added 29 goals and 52 points to finish second in the nation. Penn State will have its hands full with the dynamic duo, who finished No. 2 and No. 4 in the country in points, respectively.

Princeton’s offensive production doesn’t stop there, as junior forward Jackson Cressey is back after posting two consecutive 30-point seasons to start his college career. Cressey finished his freshman year with 33 points in 34 games and followed that effort up with 38 points in 36 games played the next season. The Tigers did lose two other 30-point scorers — David Hallisey and Eric Robinson — to graduation, but can still score goals in bunches.

Meanwhile, Princeton returns its top defenseman from last season’s NCAA tournament squad. Senior Josh Teves is back on the blue line for head coach Mitch Henderson’s team — he led the country in points scored by a blueliner with 33 in 31 games played, but is also solid in his own end.

On top of Teves, the Tigers return three of their other five defensemen who featured in their conference championship run and a starting goaltender. Like Peyton Jones, Ryan Ferland backstopped his team to a conference title as a freshman while steadily improving over the course of the season.

Ferland finished the 2017-18 season with a record of 18-11-4 and .912 save percentage. His 2.91 goals-against average leaves plenty of room for improvement, but he’s still an all-around solid goaltender who can steal games if needed.

Zeroing In

Friday night’s game looks like a classic strength-on-strength contest. Penn State can score goals, but Princeton just might have the firepower to keep up. The Nittany Lions might be deeper up front, but Veronneau and Kuffner are dangerous when it comes to goal-scoring.

Guy Gadowsky’s defense has answered lots of questions throughout the first four games of the season, stifling a good Clarkson team and taking care of Niagara to backstop two sweeps in two weekends. However, Princeton presents the defense with its toughest test yet, so it will be intriguing to see how Cole Hults and company respond.

Last Meeting

Penn State last took on Princeton in the 2016-17 season. The Nittany Lions lost 5-4 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on January 28, 2017, but won the first meeting between the teams in December 2015.

Prediction

Expect to see goals — and lots of them — at Pegula Ice Arena Friday night. I think this weekend’s one-off game will turn into a track meet, which certainly works in Penn State’s favor. I’ll predict a 6-4 Nittany Lion victory, and players like Liam Folkes, Brandon Biro, and Evan Barratt should continue their hot starts to the 2018-19 season.