By his own admission, it wasn’t the best clear Jack Sadek had.
With No. 6 Ohio State (19-8-4, 12-8-1-0 Big Ten) pulling goaltender Sean Romeo and looking for a last-minute game-tying goal, the Minnesota junior defenseman gave a helping hand to his goaltender. Matthew Weis’ shot beat Gopher goaltender Mat Robson, going off the post.
Sadek was right there, however.
He sent the puck down the length of the ice and nearly scored on an empty net with 32 seconds remaining to stymie OSU’s best and last chance. No. 9 Minnesota held on to beat the Buckeyes 2-1 for its sixth win in the team’s last seven games.
“I was lucky enough to clear it,” he said. “Probably not the best clear up the middle, but it worked out.”
While the Gopher offense, coming off an 11-goal weekend in Madison, continued to click and create chances, the defense once again came through. Playing with the mentality that the playoffs began last week Minnesota (19-13-1, 10-10-1-1 Big Ten) limited the number of Buckeyes odd-man rushes and opportunities.
The team got 21 saves from Robson, whose biggest save came early in the second period when he stopped Brendon Kearney point-blank.
Senior defenseman Jack Glover, playing his 100th career game, scored his first goal of the season 9:43 into the second period on a shot from the point that went past Romeo and proved to be the game-winner.
“I tried to shoot one on net. Their guy got in front of it with a good block and it came back to me,” said Glover, who snapped a 46-game goalless drought. “I had a little more time than usual so I tried to get a better angle and got a lucky little deflection.”
Early in the game he raced back to break a potential Christian Lampasso breakaway chance that was one of the few good opportunities Ohio State, out-shot 13-5, had in the first period. He broke up another chance in the third period, as did Ryan Zuhlsdorf.
“It was nice to see Jack Glover get rewarded, a guy who quietly has had a really nice senior season for us,” said head coach Don Lucia.
Brent Gates Jr., whose line with Tommy Novak and Tyler Sheehy was tasked with stopping Ohio State’s 30 point scorers Tanner Laczynski and Weis, opened Minnesota’s scoring when he tapped home a Novak rebound 9:02 into the game for his 10th goal of the season.
Matt Miller was the lone Buckeye to score Friday. The Ohio State defenseman cut the Gopher lead in half late in the second period with a one-timer in the closing seconds of a power play.
Minnesota did not have a power play opportunity.
The Gophers continue to be ninth in the Pairwise, which mimics the criteria used to determine the 16-team NCAA Tournament field. The team did put distance on Wisconsin and Penn State in the battle for Big Ten home ice. Minnesota sits fourth, four points ahead of fifth-place Wisconsin and three behind third-place Michigan.
The Gophers hold two games in hand over the Wolverines.
Minnesota hosts Ohio State in the regular season home finale on Saturday. Game time is 4 p.m. and it will air on ESPNU.
“That was pretty intense. Those are the fun ones when everyone is into it, everyone is up on the bench. There’s a lot on the line and we know that,” said Gates. “A 2-1 game is playoff hockey, that’s how it’s going to be and it’s good to get a couple of those wins under our belt.”
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