After an early pounce from Penn State that saw Minnesota trailing 3-0 after the first period, the Gophers men’s hockey team hunkered down en route to complete a comeback and defeat the Nittany Lions 6-4 Saturday night.
The No. 5/6 Gophers overcame an early three-goal deficit against Penn State in the last road game of their 2021-22 campaign to sweep their third-consecutive series and extend their longest winning streak this season to six games. They sit at second place in the Big Ten standings with 49 points, trailing Michigan by two points.
“We just had a bad start. Then we played like we can play the last two periods. We needed a couple of goals to get our juice going,” Gophers head coach Bob Motzko said. “We had contributions from a lot of guys in our lineup.”
In the return of junior co-captain Ben Meyers and sophomore Brock Faber after they missed five games due to the Olympics, Minnesota (21-11) continues to show down the stretch that they really do have all that they need.
By 10:47 of the first period, the Gophers conceded three goals. Penn State’s Danny Dzhaniyev opened the scoring, burying the game’s first shot on goal 2:01 into the first period. Then Ryan Kirwan and Tyler Paquette extended the Nittany Lions’ lead to 3-0 just over the halfway point as they scored their goals just 14 seconds apart.
But the Gophers did not quit and came out flying in the second period, where they outscored Penn State 3-1 to cut the Nittany Lions’ lead to 4-3.
Sophomore Mike Koster started the Minnesota comeback 4:39 into the middle frame. He showed off his patience en route to tucking the puck home inside the left goalpost to beat Penn State’s goaltender Oskar Autio. Then senior Blake McLaughlin brought the Gophers within one with 7:33 remaining after burying his 12th goal, which ties senior co-captain Sammy Walker for the team-high this season.
Then Penn State and the Gophers exchanged punches. With Minnesota fighting back, the Nittany Lions had a response of their own 2:26 after McLaughlin’s goal as Xander Lamppa extended their lead to 4-2. Quickly, senior Grant Cruikshank brought the Maroon and Gold back to a one-goal deficit with 2:33 remaining in the middle frame after burying a back-door feed from sophomore Mike Koster.
As the Gophers went into the final frame, they carried their momentum from their three-goal second period by adding three more in the third period.
Minnesota earned their first power-play opportunity of the evening, 3:22 into the third period, and capitalized on the man advantage. Freshman Aaron Huglen fired a shot from the left circle past Autio to score his first collegiate power-play goal and equalize the game at 4-4 with 15:19 remaining in the game.
Before the halfway point of the final period, Penn State’s Christian Berger slashed Walker. Then the Gophers capitalized on the delayed penalty as junior Jackson LaCombe buried his second goal this season 8:27 into the third period. As he recorded an assist on Huglen’s tying goal, LaCombe matched his career-high point total in a single season at 21.
With Penn State attempting to mount a comeback, senior Grant Cruikshank cemented Minnesota’s comeback win after burying his second goal of the evening on an empty net. His two-goal night marked his first multi-goal game in a Gophers’ uniform.
Six Minnesota players recorded multi-point performances. Ten players tallied at least one point. Meyers recorded three assists as he and McLaughlin now lead the team in points at 29. Senior Ben Brinkman had two assists to earn career-highs in assists (7) and points (8) for a single season.
Freshman Matthew Knies did not play after returning from the Olympics with Meyers and Faber as his freshman counterpart Chaz Lucius and junior Jaxon Nelson remain sidelined with injuries.
The Gophers, who are 11-3 in the second half of the season, will look to finish their second half strong as they close out their 2021-22 regular season when they host Wisconsin on Friday, Feb. 25, at 8 p.m. and Saturday, Feb. 26, at 7 p.m. at 3M Arena at Mariucci.
