A weekend with two big leads and Minnesota ends the weekend with two big losses.
No. 7 Minnesota (2-2-0) lost another game Saturday night against the No. 14 St. Cloud State (2-2-0), this time at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud, Minnesota.
The Gophers couldn’t hold on to a two-goal lead in the second period, and lost to St. Cloud State 3-2 Saturday.
“It was a hard fought game,” said head coach Don Lucia. “We will use this weekend to evaluate our lines and to evaluate our [defensemen], and how we want to set the deck this weekend.”
Minnesota gave up the game-winning goal to forward Mikey Eyssimont with seven minutes remaining in the third period.
Prior to the third period, the Gophers gave up two goals in a span of 53 seconds near the end of the second period to tie the game at 2 goals apiece.
Minnesota gave up the lead twice this weekend, and paid for it in two losses.
“It’s not a good feeling,” said forward Taylor Cammarata. “We let some chances get away this weekend, so we’re not very happy about that.”
Minnesota, in its first series against a ranked opponent this season, played an inconsistent game that resulted in two comebacks, and ultimately resulted in a winless weekend for the Gophers.
The game began with sophomore forward Jack Ramsey scoring his first goal of the season 2:27 into the first period. Taylor Cammarata added to the lead with a power-play goal with nearly a minute remaining in the first period, at which point, the energy at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center was at its lowest all game.
Cammarata, who had one of the better performances on the ice tonight, also scored his first goal of the season.
“It feels good,” Cammarata said. “[It’s] nice to get that first goal, so it helped me have a pretty good game.”
The Gophers and Huskies each scored one power-play goal Saturday night.
St. Cloud State ended up with the advantage in shots again tonight, this time by a slimmer margin of 33-31.
“I think it’s a step back when you lose two games,” Lucia said. “You’re ahead going into the third in one, and tied going into the third in the other, you’ve got to win third periods. That’s the big takeaway.”
