Gophers skate to 3-3 with Michigan State

The No. 8 Minnesota men’s hockey team picked up a 3-3 tie with No. 7 Michigan State from 3M Arena at Mariucci Friday night before dropping the shootout.

The Golden Gophers (6-4-3 overall, 2-3-2 B1G) led three different times over the Spartans (10-3-2 overall, 5-0-2 B1G) but the visitors responded each time to force the tie, which extended Minnesota’s unbeaten streak against MSU to 15 games (14-0-1). The Big Ten Conference-leading Spartans closed the night by winning the shootout, 1-0.

Connor Kurth picked a great time for his first goal of the season as the Maroon and Gold capitalized on an MSU turnover in its own zone just 1:41 into the contest. Aaron Huglen stole the puck and saucered a pass to the tape of Kurth, who finished off the one-timer for an early 1-0 edge. Minnesota put chances on goal during a power play in the middle of the frame before the Spartans erased the man advantage and went to one of their own seconds later. The Gophers shut down the visitors and carried the one-goal lead into intermission.

Minnesota opened the second stanza with a strong attack, but it was the visitors that struck for what appeared to be the tying goal 5:46 after the puck was dropped. After the Gophers challenged the play, it was determined to be goaltender interference and the goal was wiped away. The home side quickly regained its composure and was on the move offensively, generating another man advantage. The Spartans killed off the penalty and two minutes later converted a power-play chance to pull even. The Maroon and Gold had its third 5-on-4 look late in the period and again was unsuccessful as it was negated by a home penalty after the whistle. The game stayed deadlocked at 1-1 through two full periods following a successful penalty kill from the Gophers.

Jimmy Snuggerud rang a shot off the crossbar less than a minute into the final frame and three minutes later, MSU was whistled for a five-minute major penalty. Minnesota finally broke through during the extended man advantage as Bryce Brodzinski ripped a shot from the top of the circle over the pad of the Spartans netminder with 27 seconds remaining in the power play. The visitors bounced right back and evened the score 1:22 after the go-ahead tally.

The Gophers remained focused, and Rhett Pitlick buried a cross-ice feed from Mike Koster with 5:46 to play in regulation, igniting the capacity crowd. MSU again answered the goal and got the equalizer late in the period to send the game into overtime, tied 3-3. Jaxon Nelson found himself alone behind the defense in the extra session only to see his winning bid clang off the left post and neither side found the back of the net, pushing into a shootout. Minnesota was unable to score on its three shots, while MSU scored once to claim the second B1G point.