The Gophers will have to play catch-up in Big Ten conference play.
Winners of the past four conference regular season titles, Minnesota finds itself seven points behind first-year member Notre Dame with two more games played. (Big Ten games are worth three points apiece.) The latest comes after the first-place Fighting Irish (12-3-1, 6-0-0-0 Big Ten) swept the Gophers this weekend, most recently defeating Minnesota 5-2 Saturday at Compton Family Ice Arena.
Minnesota (9-6-1, 3-4-1-1 Big Ten) was within one goal for much of the game. Trailing from Notre Dame’s opening shot, the Fighting Irish were able to hold off the Gophers and put the game away in the final ten-plus minutes.
“We took some penalties in the third. We just didn’t have much pushback in the third,” said Minnesota head coach Don Lucia. “When they got the fourth one, it’s tough to come back. One, when it’s a one-shot game, you’re in it. We got a little too impatient and did some things we hadn’t been doing.”
Redshirt senior forward Mike Szmatula solved Fighting Irish goaltender Cale Morris Saturday, who made 40 saves, scoring twice on the power play for his first multi-goal game with Minnesota.
“I feel like the whole weekend I was going to the net hard. When you get a goalie saving the puck like (Morris) was saving it, those are usually the ways you’re going to get by him,” Szmatula said. “You’re not going to beat him clean. I just tried to play in the dirty areas and got a couple nice passes.”
Notre Dame leading scorer Jake Evans connected twice with Cal Burke, who moved to Evans’ line Saturday. The first came 1:36 into the game. Burke’s second was even more of a dagger, as his seventh goal of the season was the one which gave his team a 4-2 lead in the third period.
Early on, the No. 6 Gophers had opportunities against the No. 4 team in the nation. Minnesota got three power play chances in the first period. While Szmatula scored on the second opportunity, the team could not take advantage of a full two-minute 5-on-3 power play. The Gophers had 10 power play shots on goal in the first period to help get a season-high 19 in one period.
“Our power play was clicking tonight for the most part,” said defenseman Tyler Nanne, who assisted on both goals. “We capitalized on our opportunities. Maybe later in the game with that 5-on-3, it would have nice to put that in, but for the most part usually, you’d win a game scoring two on the power play. Tonight it wasn’t enough.”
Tory Dello made it 2-1 Notre Dame 2:45 into the second period when Jordan Gross’ shot went wide off the boards and directly to his feet. Evans put the Fighting Irish ahead by two later in the period before Szmatula’s second goal got the Gophers back within one.
Minnesota outshot Notre Dame 42-35, however, the Gophers were unable at times to get rebounds and pressure Morris thanks in-part to the Fighting Irish defense.
“They played hard in front of the net,” Szmatula said. “They’re a team that packed it in and they’re very good at playing tough in front. They got some big boys”
Eric Schierhorn finished Saturday with 30 saves, including 17 in the third period.
With nine straight wins and three straight sweeps to open Big Ten play, Notre Dame continues to be one of the hottest teams in college hockey. The Fighting Irish were also able to do something no Notre Dame team had done in nearly 40 years. Notre Dame had not swept Minnesota in a two-game series since February 1979.
One of the players on the Fighting Irish roster was Don Lucia.
“(Notre Dame)’s a good team. We didn’t do enough to give ourselves a chance to win,” said Lucia.
The Gophers next host Wisconsin for two games at 3M Arena at Mariucci.
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