"We never expected to be this offensive this early," red line player Mike Carrano said. "We never thought we'd beat teams 4-1 or 5-1, but the young guys have stepped up. And, before you know it, we're getting six, seven and eight goals."

Coach Joe Battista also believes the offense has been overachieving and understands Drexel may be a tough test for his national runner-up squad.

"Drexel's a very aggressive team," he said. "We can't afford to look ahead. Last year, it was 2-1 in the third period."

Penn State escaped that contest with a 3-1 win, but it really hasn't been challenged with a close game yet this season -- despite playing a high level of competition. And it owes a lot of that success to the goaltenders, Paul Mammola and Chris Matteo, and to power plays.

The Icers are a mind-boggling 16-for-36 on the power play, as power play goals have accounted for nearly 45% of their total scores this season.

"If we can keep the power plays up, that's great," Battista said. "But those are pretty gaudy numbers."

Carrano, who scored five goals last weekend, thinks there's one reason in particular why Penn State has been so effective during the power play.

Teammate Kevin Jaeger.

"The big contributing factor is getting two guys drawn on Jaeger during a power play," he said. "So, me and [Joe] Maglaque are open to collect rebounds."

Jaeger also seems to be a penalty magnet for other teams, as it's not uncommon for opponents to shadow Jaeger and use any means necessary to slow him down. As far as the goalies are concerned, Mammola and Matteo were instrumental in last weekend's pair of wins when the two combined for 61 saves.

Battista praised the duo for stepping up, saying the team may have actually depended on them too much.

• Goalies settling into roles