On Thursday night, the Gophers men’s hockey team spread the wealth in its season-opening win over Penn State as four different players representing three lines scored goals. On Friday afternoon, coach Bob Motzko’s top line did the bulk of the damage as the Gophers completed a sweep of the Nittany Lions.
Brannon McManus and Sammy Walker each had a goal and an assist, and linemate Blake McLaughlin contributed two assists as 11th-ranked Minnesota opened the season in fine style with a 3-2 victory over No. 11 Penn State in front of a gathering of 159 players’ family members at 3M Arena at Mariucci.
Center Scott Reedy added a power-play goal, his second tally in as many games, and Jack LaFontaine made 34 saves as the Gophers exacted some revenge against their nemesis. The sweep was the Gophers’ first over Penn State since Feb. 17-18, when Minnesota beat the Nittany Lions 6-3 and 4-3 in overtime in State College, two weeks after it swept PSU 5-1 and 5-2 in Minneapolis. Entering this opening series, Penn State had been 11-2-1 vs. the Gophers over the past three seasons.
The Gophers went on the power play early in the first period when Penn State defenseman Evan Bell was called for slashing at 2:35. The Nittany Lions nearly killed the penalty, but Reedy scored his second goal of the year by tipping the puck past goalie Liam Souliere (24 saves) with one second left in the man advantage. McManus and McLaughlin got the assists.
Penn State began to apply pressure midway through the first period, and LaFontaine kept the Nittany Lions off the board at 10:22 when he smothered a shot by Tyler Gratton. With 3:58 left in the period, he made successive stops on Kevin Wall and Tyler Paquette.
LaFontaine couldn’t get out of the period unscathed, though. A turnover by Matt Staudacher at the blue line led to a Penn State three-on-one rush, and Christian Sarlo finished it at 17:31.
Staudacher quickly made amends, though, hitting Walker with a stretch pass as he entered the Penn State zone. Walker charged toward the net and snapped a shot past Souliere’s glove for a 2-1 Gophers lead with 0.8 seconds left in the first.
In the second period, Penn State went on the power play 1:24 in when Gophers defenseman Ryan Johnson was called for cross-checking. The Nittany Lions applied pressure but got only one shot on goal with the man advantage. After the power play, Penn State started to control play in the period, building its shots on goal lead to 19-9.
LaFontaine kept the Gophers ahead by making a couple of big saves at the 9:40 mark, first on Christian Berger, then on Bell’s rebound shot in tight.
The Gophers got their second power play of the game when Gratton was called for boarding at 11:38 of the second, and McManus made a spectacular play to boost Minnesota’s lead to 3-1 at 13:28.
After taking a pass from Walker, McManus drove toward the net and looked toward his right as if he were about to pass. Instead, he used the head fake to fool Souliere and rifle a shot past the Penn State goalie’s glove for the power-play marker.
Souliere kept it 3-1 by making a sliding save on Ben Meyers with 1:18 left in the second.
In the third period, the Nittany Lions started fast, forcing LaFontaine to make four saves in the first for minutes. The pressure paid off for Penn State at 4:41, when Kevin Wall’s short-side backhander got past LaFontaine and trimmed Minnesota’s lead to 3-2.
With 6:52 left in the third, Penn State went on the power play when Bryce Brodzinski was called for elbowing. That was negated 1:12 later when Gratton was called for interference. With five seconds left in the Minnesota power play, Sampo Ranta was called for elbowing, giving Penn State 1:55 of man-advantage time.
The Gophers killed the Ranta penalty, with McLaughlin finishing the kill by leading a shorthanded rush and nearly scoring on a couple of shots against Souliere.
Penn State pulled Souliere with 1:13 to play, and Walker missed the chance at an empty-net goal. No matter, though. The Gophers would kill the remaining time and finish the sweep.
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November 21, 2020 at 06:15AM
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Gophers hockey holds on to complete season-opening sweep over Penn State - Minneapolis Star Tribune
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