Minnesota saw little fight from in-state rival St Cloud State Thursday night and came away with a 5-2 victory.

Junior forward Kelly Pannek started off the scoring with a wrist shot from the left side at the 16:10 mark of the 1st period.

The Huskies failed to put much of any offense together in the 1st period, as the Gophers outshot them 10-1.

Minnesota kept the pressure on in the 2nd period and peppered the St. Cloud State goalie until sophomore forward Sarah Potomak broke through with the second goal of the game off a pass from senior forward Dani Cameranesi.

The third period saw an early short-handed goal by junior forward Cara Piazza go in, followed by a goal from Cameranesi shortly thereafter to solidify the victory for Minnesota.

St. Cloud State saved themselves from being shut out by scoring two goals at the midway through the third period.

Pannek closed the game with a final goal though for a 5-2 score.

No. 2 Minnesota (8-1-0, WCHA 6-1-0) outshot St. Cloud State (3-5-1, WCHA 2-4-1) 38-11 on the game.

The Gophers first line of Potomak, Pannek, and Cameranesi proved to be the catalyst for the victory, with the three playing off of each other during every instance of the game.

“Offensively they are carrying us,” head coach Brad Frost said. “They’ve got really good chemistry, the are all different players, but they feed off each other really well.”

Potomak and Cameranesi finished with four points each, followed by Pannek with three.

Redshirt junior Sidney Peters made six saves in net, before being replaced by freshman goalie Serena D’Angelo, who gave up the only two goals of the game.

The Gophers will take on St. Cloud State again Friday at 7 p.m to close out the two game series.