WEST SPRINGFIELD, Mass. The American International College ice hockey team returns to action this weekend as they battle Bentley as part of a home-and-home series with Friday night's contest being played in Waltham at the JAR and Saturday night's game back in West Side at the Olympia.

LAST TIME OUT: AIC was swept in a weekend set against Air Force two weeks ago being outscored 13-3.

ALL-TIME SERIES: Bentley leads the series 28-21-5 including a 1-0 shutout earlier this season at the JAR. This weekend marks the second and third games out of four this season between the two teams.

LAST TIME THEY MET: AIC dropped a 1-0 contest to Bentley on the first day of December as they were outshot 33-30.

PENALTY KILL SUCCESS: AIC has killed off 22-of-23 power-plays spanning the last six plus games including 20 straight at one point before Air Force snapped that with a second period PP goal in game one. They now have an even 80 percent kill, good for sixth in Atlantic Hockey.

NOT VERY POWERFUL PP: After going 3-for-6 with the man-advantage including the game-winner to defeat Army 3-2 on December 12th, the Yellow Jackets are 0-for-9 on the power-play over their last five contests, but still rank second in the league at 18 percent.

TRENDING NOW: Sophomore goaltender Alex Murray has impressed as of late after early season troubles and currently leads Atlantic Hockey with 590 saves. He is averaging 33 saves per game with a season-high of 51 in an overtime loss at Niagara earlier this year. Two weeks ago in the series opener against Air Force the sophomore stopped 22 shots in the first period which is a season-high for a single period and just one off his career-high of 23 saves in a period achieved last season in a victory over Niagara. Murray has also used a .930 save percentage over his last 10 games to improve to a .909 on the year good for ninth in the league.

HOT AND COLD: AIC had a modest four-game unbeaten streak before running into Holy Cross who shut them out for the second time this season 2-0. They then traveled to Colorado where they have not had recent success and dropped a pair at Air Force. They look to turn things around this weekend before they hit the road for a busy week against Princeton and Mercyhurst.

ONE & DONE: Last time these two teams met the Falcons escaped with a 1-0 victory and so far this season AIC is 3-2 in one-goal games while Bentley is 4-6 in single-score contests on the season. AIC was only 1-6 in such contests during the 2014-15 season while Bentley was 8-7.

SLOW START: AIC hasn't gotten off to very good starts as of late with just 19 shots combined over their last five games in the first period, less than a 4 shot per period average, however, they are only being outscored 3-1 in the first period over that span. The second period is where they have been outscored 9-2 over the last five games while being a -24 differential on the season (37-13). Bentley also sees the second period as their worst period with a -8 differential (22-14).

UP NEXT: AIC travels to Princeton for a midweek non-conference showdown at Hobey Baker Arena on Tuesday for a 7:05 p.m. puck drop.