The old saying goes: a good defense is the best offense.

Or is it that a good offense is the best defense?

Whether the chicken came before the egg is not relevant in this situation. The point of it all is that No. 5 Penn State's (5-1-1) defense doesn't care which way it's phrased.

Whether the Nittany Lions are scoring at will, or scrapping to get anything in the net, the players that no one ever talks about are busy doing their job. After the opening 2-1 loss to Washington, the Lions' defense has done its job so well, in fact, that it hardly matters what the other end is doing.

Penn State has not lost since Aug. 27, has only given up two goals in those games and is currently in the midst of a streak in which its opponent hasn't scored in more than 400 minutes.

While the offense has sputtered at times, it knows that it might only take one goal to get a win.

"We just take a lot of pride in holding the other team to zero goals," junior defenseman Natalie Jacobs said. "It takes a lot of pressure off the team and they can focus on scoring."

Penn State is tied with Indiana for second in the Big Ten in goals allowed (4), and with Purdue in shutouts (4). The Lions find themselves tied for last in the conference in saves (17), but that's a good thing in this instance.

The offense has doubled its opponent in shots 126-63 in the seven games, and tripled it in shots on goal, 59-19.

Juniors Erin McLeod, who has two shutouts and combined on another, and Amanda Brown, who also has one shutout, have the Lions on the verge of tying a consecutive shutout record of five straight shutouts, which was set in 2000.

Combined with Jacobs, seniors Lindsay Bach and Stephanie Pezzullo, and freshman Denay Riley, the goalie's job is that much easier.

"It's awesome for me," said McLeod who has started the last three games. "The amount of confidence I have in them is huge and they never let me down."

Jacobs, who was second-team All-Big Ten last season, has started 42 straight games, and Pezzullo, who has been a full-time starter the past two seasons, are the leaders of the squad. Bach played in nine games last season after recovering from a knee injury. Riley has meshed nicely in her first year and together the four have created a tandem that can be counted on for every game.

"They've created a good cohesive and confident group," Penn State coach Paula Wilkins said. "Their experience is paying dividends for us. They're great in supporting the attack and they're reliable."

In the early part of the season the Lions played two top-10 teams, and a team that is now ranked third in the nation. No. 3 Washington, No. 6 Portland and Connecticut are the only teams to have scored on the Lions.

Connecticut, who has since dropped out of the top-25 after being ranked eighth when Penn State played the Huskies, is the last team to put one past a Lion goalie. The goal came with 4:24 seconds left in the second half.

Penn State has now gone four games and four overtimes without being scored upon.

With Indiana, who has also only given up four goals in seven games, and Purdue at home this weekend, the Lions aren't necessarily looking to continue their streak. It's more just trying to accomplish their goal for every game.

"At the beginning of every game our goal is to get a donut," McLeod said. "At the end of the game if we do that, we're happy. We have a lot of very hard games with very challenging teams and if we give up a goal it could end up costing us."

With nine straight Big Ten games coming up it will take a full team effort to get a seventh consecutive conference title. If Jacobs and crew are up to the task, there's no telling how many shutouts will result.

"We can definitely surpass [the record set in 2000]," Jacobs said. "We have a special defense this year."

The kind of special that goes back to the other old saying: defense wins championships.