Carman's OT goal sends U to Game 3

MANKATO - Mike Carman took a few moments after the Gophers' 2-1 overtime victory over Minnesota State Mankato on Saturday to view a replay of his game-winning goal.

His 45-foot shot, from high in the slot, clanked off the crossbar and got past Mavericks goalie Mike Zacharias at 7 minutes, 33 seconds of overtime to force a third and deciding game at 7:07 tonight in the WCHA first-round playoff series.

"As I was shooting, [defenseman Channing Boe] laid down one of his legs," Carman said. "I saw it on video just now. It went off his leg and right up over Zacharias. We could use a lucky bounce in OT, though.

"This was a huge win for us. We all knew the season was on the line going into OT. I'm just glad we get a chance to play again [today]."

The victory at the Alltel Center, of course, keeps Minnesota's hopes alive for advancing to the WCHA Final Five this week and, beyond that, of earning a spot in the NCAA tournament's 16-team field. After Friday's 1-0 double-overtime loss the Gophers were a .500 team on the NCAA bubble, and another loss probably would have burst it.

"It's never a bad thing to shoot a puck," Gophers coach Don Lucia said of Carman's deciding long shot. "And we caught a break. It went off their guy, hit the crossbar and went in. It was good to see.

"We were due to win an overtime game," Lucia said.

Overdue.

Saturday's game was Minnesota's school-record 14th overtime game, but the Gophers were 0-4-9 in previous OTs, still looking for their first victory.

"They had us a little bit on our heels in overtime," said Carman, a sophomore center, "and you cannot help but wonder if it was not in the cards for us."

Actually both teams had superb goaltending for the second night in a row. Gophers freshman Alex Kangas stopped 27 shots, Zacharias 35. Their combined save percentage so far in this series is a ridiculous .972.

"Both goalies have been just spectacular," Lucia said. "Easily this game could have been 4-3 -- not 2-1 -- or 5-4. There were some good chances both ways. This is as good goaltending as I have seen from two goaltenders."

The Gophers (16-15-9) seemed to have considerable more jump Saturday in the first period than the night before against the Mavericks (19-14-4). Minnesota outshot MSU 11-8 and took a 1-0 lead on junior Justin Bostrom's wraparound goal at 6:07.

Kangas made a big early save on Mick Berge but was not tested much the rest of the first period or the second.

Freshman center Andrew Sackrison of MSU tied the score 1-1 at 9:47 of the third period on a power-play goal from the slot.

Carman almost scored for the Gophers with 1:05 left in regulation. He dived for a puck on the edge of the crease with Zacharias on the ice. However, Carman could not get lift on his shot and Zacharias smothered the puck.

"I got tripped up a little bit going to the net, so I couldn't get enough leverage to get it up," Carman said. "I was kicking myself for that one. I go in, I was thinking, 'I hope I can make up for that.'"

He did.