Gophers men’s hockey team skates to 6-2 win at Wisconsin

Gopher Hockey scored five-unanswered goals to open this weekend’s Border Battle series with a 6-2 win over Wisconsin at the Kohl Center on Friday night.

Eleven Minnesota skaters tallied points including two-goal performances from Brannon McManus and Bryce Brodzinski as the Maroon & Gold have won four-straight games and six of the last seven contests.

Jonny Sorenson opened the night as Minnesota (11-10-4 overall, 6-5-4-1 Big Ten) and Wisconsin (10-14-1, 5-11-1-1) split a pair of goals in the first period before the Badgers briefly claimed the lead for the first and only time early in the second period.

But five-straight goals from the Maroon & Gold helped the visitors pull away as McManus and Brodzinski each scored goals in the second and third period while Sammy Walker picked up the eventual game winner. The Gophers scored three goals in 4:41 in the second half of the second period with tallies from McManus, Walker and Brodzinski.

Jared Moe picked up the win for the Gophers, improving to 5-4-1 on the year with 18 saves on 18 shots after playing the final 33:28. Jack LaFontaine made 11 saves on 13 shots to start the game. Daniel Lebedeff took the loss with an 18-save performance, falling to 8-11-0 on the year. Jack Berry played the final 23:14, making three saves on five shots.

Wisconsin outshot the Gophers 31-27…Minnesota went 1-for-2 on the penalty kill and 0-for-2 on the power play.