The Gophers will be without one of their hottest scorers for Saturday's finale with St. Cloud State and possibly longer. Senior center Travis Boyd is out with a lower-body injury after being banged up late in Friday's 4-1 loss in St. Cloud.

Boyd was part of the Gophers' penalty kill during a 5-on-3 disadvantage in the third period and took a hard shot to his body moments before the Huskies scored on the power play. Boyd was slow to get up and returned to the bench hunched over.

Coach Don Lucia said Boyd could be sidelined "for a while," which could mean at least a couple weeks.

Sophomore Vinni Lettieri slides into the center position on the third line with Connor Reilly at left wing and Seth Ambroz at right wing.

Freshman forward Robin Hoglund fills Boyd's spot in the lineup and will skate on the fourth line.

The Gophers have given up nine goals over the last three games after the four they gave up on Saturday. Last year's defensive core only gave up one goal to St. Cloud State in two meetings. An overload of penalties has led to the opponents' surge of offense. Expect the Gophers to play more disciplined on Saturday night.

"I guess things are getting a little tough and we're just taking the shortcuts right now," Ambroz said about the penalty problems on Friday night. "It's nothing we can't adjust and that's what we're going to have to do before tomorrow."

St. Cloud State routs No. 1 Gophers in college hockey Top 10 showdown, read Friday night's game story and postgame blog.

My feature this week takes a look at this year's alternate captains Seth Ambroz and Ben Marshall and their lighthearted personalities. Also check out details and video from Wednesday's access where Lucia said his team was "Too easy to play against."

• SERIES PREVIEW: NO. 1 GOPHERS VS. NO. 7 ST. CLOUD STATE

4 p.m. Saturday at Mariucci Arena.

TV/radio/live stream: FSN; 1500-AM; BTN2Go.

Gophers at a glance: The Gophers (4-1) are too easy to play against, coach Don Lucia said leading up to his team's first true road test in St. Cloud on Friday night. Junior defenseman Brady Skjei agreed and pointed out several big mistakes that allowed Bemidji State to keep pace last weekend. No. 7 St. Cloud State exposed these problems in Friday night's 4-1 victory over the No. 1 Gophers and will play for the sweep Saturday.

For more on St. Cloud State and details on this weekend's TV broadcasts, read full series preview.

• Gophers Saturday lines
Forwards (left wing, center, right wing)
Leon Bristed, Kyle Rau, Hudson Fasching
Sam Warning, Justin Kloos, Taylor Cammarata
Connor Reilly, Vinnie Lettieri, Seth Ambroz
Robin Hoglund, A.J. Michaelson, Christian Isackson

Defensemen (left, right)
Brady Skjei, Ryan Collins
Steve Johnson, Mike Reilly
Ben Marshall, Michael Brodzinski

Goaltenders
Adam Wilcox, Nick Lehr, Ryan Coyne

Don Lucia's scouting report on St. Cloud State: They're a good transition team like always. Got a good core of defensemen returning from last year's team. With [Kalle] Kossila and [Jonny] Brodzinski returning they've got plenty of skill up front. They've got some older guys that can play in their fourth line-type roles. With their experience they can play against anybody. But St. Cloud is always a good skating team. They are off to a good start with Colgate and Union, going 2-2, because those are two very good teams. So they've played a high level so far to begin the year.