Penn State hockey's early-season struggles continued on Saturday night in a loss at home to Notre Dame. Penn State's 4-2 loss dropped the Nittany Lions to 2-7-1 (0-3-1 Big Ten) after failing to record a win at home this weekend against the Fighting Irish.

Penn State led Saturday night's game 1-0 with a goal by Jackson Smith in the first period before Notre Dame scored four straight goals on Penn State goaltender Josh Fleming. The Nittany Lions scored a l in the third period off the stick of Dane Dowiak, but the damage had been done in this one.

Penn State outshot the Fighting Irish 38-29and held the edge in special teams play with a power play goal and killing all three power plays Notre Dame had in the game. But Penn State's inability to hold off the Irish was too much to overcome in the third period as a comeback effort fell short.

Penn State failed to pick up a win at home this weekend in the Big Ten series. The Nittany Lions fell in overtime to the Irish on Friday night. Penn State has lost three consecutive games in Big Ten play now after ending last weekend with a loss at Minnesota.

Penn State faces two of the best teams in the nation in their next two weekends in Big Ten play. Next weekend, Penn State will visit No. 2 Michigan for a pair of games. A weekend series against Wisconsin in Madison comes the following weekend. With the way things have been going for Penn State this season, it could potentially get worse before anything gets better for this roster.