By the time the final horn sounded in Kohl Center in Madison, Wisconsin, on Saturday night, many fans clad in red had already bolted for the exit signs. Their No. 19-ranked Badgers had just fallen 6-2 to Penn State men’s hockey, an unranked team with a chip on its shoulder, to complete a stunning series sweep.

Although the Nittany Lions faced adversity and high-leverage situations throughout the two games, they continued to find ways to kill penalties, make saves, score goals, and ultimately secured two wins on the road. It becomes clearer by the week that this Penn State team has improved so much since the start of the second half that it’s near-transformative.

For starters, Penn State’s defense was outstanding in game one on Friday. The Nittany Lions blocked 17 shots, while Arsenii Sergeev had 25 saves and posted his fourth shutout of the season. They frustrated Wisconsin’s No. 17-ranked power-play unit on all four chances it had to capitalize on a 2-0 win.

The next night, Sergeev’s 39 saves tied for his second-most of the season. The penalty kill struggled as the Badgers went two-for-four on the man advantage, while the Nittany Lions had another 17 blocked shots.

While game one was a defensive battle, game two proved different. Wisconsin grabbed a lead at 11:57 into the first period, which Cade Christenson erased just 3:01 later. Reese Laubach scored two more goals in the second and third periods before the Badgers scored one more time. Matt DiMarsico and Charlie Cerrato gave Penn State a commanding 5-2 lead in the second half of the third period before Aiden Fink’s empty-netter blew the game open in a 6-2 win.

It’s obviously an impressive feat that Penn State took six points from Wisconsin on the road. Although being the away team in the Big Ten is typically a hard thing to do for various reasons, the Nittany Lions enjoy the challenge.

Last week, for instance, Penn State split with Michigan in Ann Arbor. Yost Ice Arena is a notoriously difficult environment to play in considering its storied history and location of the student section adjacent to the opposing bench. But the booing and taunting was extra fuel for Penn State players.

“I’m someone who finds those high-energy, high-animosity arenas a lot of fun to play in. It fires you up,” said forward Carson Dyck. “You want to beat them that much more when they’re coming at you, and they’re right over the top.”

Although Kohl Center is less intimate and storied, it still has a reputation for being a loud environment to play in. Securing wins on the road in the Big Ten, where environments tend to be hostile toward opponents, has a way of bringing a team together amid adversity.

Now, Penn State has proven to itself and the rest of the conference it can find massive success away from Pegula Ice Arena by getting a sweep on the road in Big Ten play for the first time this season. The Nittany Lions play last-place Notre Dame at home this weekend, but a trip to first-place Michigan State awaits the following week. Channeling the same energy into a crucial matchup in East Lansing will be crucial, as the margin for error to make the NCAA Tournament is still slim despite what happened in Madison.