Against a rival, every point helps.
Whether it’s the first career point, 100th or anything in between, Minnesota had enough to take the opening game Friday.
The Gophers used a four-goal second to erase a 2-1 deficit against Wisconsin in a 5-4 win. Minnesota held on late, killing a third-period penalty in the final five minutes of regulation. The visiting Badgers threatened again by having an extra attacker over the final two minutes with goaltender Jack Berry pulled, but were unable to find the tying goal.
Five different players scored for the Gophers (10-6-1, 4-4-1-1 Big Ten) to snap a two-game losing streak.
“We have tremendous scoring depth on our team. To have five different scorers is definitely a good sign. I think everyone was rolling, said Scott Reedy after a three-point (1G-2A) night. “We need to keep that going.”
A pair of Gopher players had their share of milestones Friday night. Redshirt senior Mike Szmatula reached 100 points in his college career on a first period goal. 68 came while he was Northeastern while the next 32 are with the Gophers.
Sophomore Joey Marooney, playing for the first time since Oct. 20 against North Dakota, assisted on Tyler Sheehy’s second goal for his first career point.
“(Marooney) hadn’t played much. He worked so hard in practice that I wanted to reward him with a game,” said head coach Don Lucia.
Minnesota came out with new lines against its rival 260 miles to the east, however, Wisconsin (9-7-2, 3-3-1-0 Big Ten) dug in against the Gophers as the home team struggled to find its legs. Freshman Sean Dhooghe made up for an earlier attempt and scored on a five-on-three advantage to open the scoring 7:14 into the game. Jarod Zirbel got on the board as well with his second goal of the season.
In between the two Wisconsin goals was Szmatula’s 100th career point. Coming after a two-goal performance in his last game, Szmatula fell down, but not before he tipped the puck past Kyle Hayton.
“It’s pretty special,” Szmatula said about the milestone. “It’s just a tribute to all my teammates that I’ve had my whole life. It’s special to do it here. I’m just thankful my parents were able to help me out during the tough times. That was for them.”
Having split up lines to start Friday night, Lucia changed things around much to his team’s success. A close game through twenty minutes broke open in the second period when in a span of 10:26, Sheehy, Rem Pitlick, Tyler Nanne and Reedy all scored for the Gophers.
“(Lucia) mentioned before the game we were going with some different line pairings and if things were going differently, he’d switch it up,” said Reedy. “We’re all pretty prepared for it. We’re trying to find the right chemistry and guys are ready to play with anyone. He says who is going next and we just react to it.”
Nanne and Reedy’s came 20 seconds apart from one another to give Minnesota a 5-2 lead with 4:21 remaining in a rowdy 3M Arena at Mariucci. It marked the end of the night for Hayton, who finished with 14 saves and was pulled for the first time as a Badger.
Tarek Baker and Trent Frederic helped Wisconsin cut Minnesota’s lead to one. Gopher goaltender Eric Schierhorn finished with 35 saves, including 19 in the second period.
At home, Minnesota has now won eight straight games. The two teams play again Saturday night at 7:00 pm.
“It wasn’t the prettiest at times, but it’s always pretty when you get three points,” Lucia said. “We’ll take it and move on and get ready for tomorrow night.”
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