Two power-play goals leads Ohio State past Gophers men’s hockey team

The No. 3 Minnesota men’s hockey team suffered a 5-1 loss in Big Ten Conference action at No. 11 Ohio State Friday evening from Value City Arena.

The Golden Gophers (17-4-2 overall, 8-2-1 B1G) gave up a pair of power-play goals in the third period that sealed the win for the Buckeyes (15-5-1 overall, 8-3-0 B1G), and the teams are now within one point of each other in the league standings at 24 and 23 points, respectively.

The series opener started with both teams fighting to get through the neutral zone and build an attack, but it was the defenses that were able to break pucks out of pressure. Each side managed just one shot on goal for the opening seven minutes until a Ryan Chesley blast from the point tested the OSU netminder again. The visitors drew the first man advantage of the contest as Jimmy Clark was tripped on his way up the ice at the 12:06 mark of the period. The Gophers put two shots on target during the power play before it was erased by the Buckeyes. With momentum from the penalty kill, a turnover led to an odd-man rush for the home team and it capitalized via a shot from the right circle, taking a 1-0 lead with 8:24 remaining in the frame that carried to intermission.

Minnesota came out of the locker room on a mission to pull even. Matthew Wood created multiple chances early in the stanza before Jimmy Snuggerud slipped a pass over to Oliver Moore on a 2-on-1, but a sliding glove save kept the Buckeyes in front. After the Gophers failed to clear the puck from their zone, OSU pounced on a rebound and stretched the margin to 2-0 at the 5:19 mark of the second period.

Facing a two-goal deficit for the third time all season, the Maroon and Gold continued to put on pressure, spending extended time in the offensive zone. That led to a major penalty and game misconduct called on the Buckeyes with 7:01 to play in the frame. During the power play, Wood rang a wrister off the crossbar before a penalty on the Gophers forced the teams to skate 4-on-4 for two minutes. The man advantage continued for another minute until it was killed off by OSU and the home side’s advantage remained 2-0 through 40 completed minutes.

A five-minute major and game misconduct on Minnesota 45 seconds into the final frame proved costly, giving the Buckeyes a chance to break the game open. It was a rebound in the crease that allowed OSU to push its lead to 3-0 less than a minute into the man advantage before adding a second goal 60 seconds later and the Gophers elected to change goaltenders. Brody Lamb nearly gave the visitors life while shorthanded, but his bid clipped the right post and wide.

The Maroon and Gold finally broke through thanks to a perfect pass from Wood that found the tape of a surging Sam Rinzel just inside the blue line at the 9:01 mark of the third period. The sophomore skated around an OSU defenseman and lifted a shot over the goalie’s glove to stop the shutout bid and helped Minnesota play with more urgency. After the Buckeyes iced the puck, they called their timeout to get a short break, and the Gophers elected to play with an extra attacker and empty net as the clock read 7:37. The move did not pay off, despite a pair of scoring chances, as OSU scored from inside its own zone and skated away with a 5-1 victory.