"Justen was the difference in the game tonight," Minnesota head coach Bob Motzko said. The Gophers improved to 11-1-1 this year when playing on Friday. Koster has recorded a point in seven of his past 11 games, extending his career-best point total to 18. Johnson tallied assists on both second-period goals and now has five helpers in his last three games, while Pitlick has assists in three-straight contests. Snuggerud tied Knies for the team lead in goal scoring with his 17th of the year and with his two-point effort now has totaled 14 games with multiple points, totaling a team-best 39. Brodzinski tallied his fifth goal across the previous four outings and set a new career high with his 13th and 14th of the season, while reaching the 75-point mark for his career at Minnesota. The senior is now 18-7-1 overall in net and leads the Big Ten Conference behind a 2.05 goals against average.Ĭlose has limited opposing teams to two or fewer goals 17 times in 26 appearances this year and made 30 or more saves for the eighth time. Wisconsin snapped the shutout bid 15 ticks of the clock later, but the damage had been done as the Gophers cruised to the third-straight win.Ĭlose was forced to make 21 saves in the opening period, the most of any single period this season, and finished with 36 to provide Minnesota with the poise it needed to weather early pressure. It was the Blaine, Minn., native's second multi-goal effort in the last four games, coming 1:16 into the period. It didn't take long at the start of the final frame for Brodzinski to score his second of the night as the senior was in the perfect position in front of the net to redirect a Mike Koster pass along the goal line. The offense continued for the visitors as it got the third goal of the night, on just its seventh shot, as Brodzinski buried an open one-timer off a Rhett Pitlick feed at the 8:35 mark and chased the Wisconsin netminder. Ryan Johnson moved down the left wall and pushed a pass to Snuggerud at the high slot where the freshman blistered a wrister by the goalie, creating a two-goal cushion. The Pittsburgh, Pa., native put away a spinning shot under the pads with 4:03 remaining in the period.Īfter adding their third successful penalty kill that carried into the second period, the Gophers struck again 64 seconds into the stanza. Matthew Knies forced a turnover in the offensive zone and Jimmy Snuggerud slid the puck to Logan Cooley. The Gophers had to kill off another penalty during the opening period as the Badgers had the momentum, but it was the top line for Minnesota that turned the tide for a 1-0 advantage. With eight minutes played, Close delivered his best save of the year, sliding across the crease to his left for the glove stop, keeping the game scoreless, to the delight of the Maroon and Gold faithful that made the trip east for the series. Part of the man advantage was negated 37 seconds later as Wisconsin interfered with the Gopher penalty killer and the teams played 4-on-4 until Minnesota erased the rest of the penalty. ![]() Less than a minute into the game, the visitors found themselves down a player for five minutes being called for a major penalty. The win moved Minnesota one game closer to winning a Big Ten Conference championship as a victory in the series finale Saturday clinches the title. The Golden Gophers (21-7-1 overall, 15-3-1 B1G) got a pair of goals from Bryce Brodzinski and skated past the Badgers (10-19-0 overall, 3-16-0 B1G) in the Border Battle. 1 Minnesota men's hockey utilized a 36-save performance from Justen Close to build a four-goal lead Friday night on the way to a 4-1 victory at Wisconsin from the Kohl Center.
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