The Minnesota Gophers won their fifth straight game on Saturday, defeating the St. Cloud State Huskies 5-1.

The Gophers’ slow start on offense Friday was not the case in Saturday’s first period. Catie Skaja fired Minnesota’s first shot on goal past the pads of Sanni Ahola for a 1-0 lead. After an Emily Zumwinkle slashing penalty, St. Cloud State quickly rebounded with an Olivia Cvar power-play goal. The period would end at a 1-1 draw with Minnesota leading in shots on goal 14-9.

The second period was mostly quiet for both teams. Neither team committed a penalty or scored a goal in the first 16 minutes of play until Olivia Knowles fired a shot from the blue line that was tipped in by Sarah Norcross giving Minnesota a 2-1 lead. Minnesota led in shots on goal 32-17 at the second period’s conclusion.

“Getting back to pucks we were quick, same with our defense,” said Skaja. “We had a ton of middle drives to suck their D back which gave us a ton of scoring opportunities.”

Knowles continued to have the hot hand in the third period as she found the back of the net, extending the Gophers lead to 3-1. With four minutes left in the contest, Peyton Hemp’s power-play goal was waved off which would have made the game 4-1 Gophers. Instead, Skaja intercepted a Huskies pass and scored a shorthanded empty-net goal. Minnesota would win the game 5-1 after an Ella Huber score. The Gophers dominated shots on goal 47-20, completing their two-game sweep over the Huskies and going 4-0 against their in-state foes this season.

​​“A big three points here tonight,” said head coach Brad Frost. “Our team continued to get better as the game wore on and were able to pull away at the end. We had some good goaltending and timely goals. All in all, a really good weekend for us and a big six points.”

The Gophers’ last series of the season will be against St. Thomas next weekend. The first game will be played in St. Paul on Thursday, Feb. 17, and the second is on Saturday, Feb. 19, at Ridder Arena.