Gophers shut out Notre Dame 5-0 at Mariucci Arena

Adam Wilcox needed a night like this. The Gophers junior goaltender stuffed 20 shots on goal and shut out No. 15 Notre Dame for a 5-0 victory on Friday night at Mariucci Arena.

An effort like this is expected from one of the nation's top goaltenders, but things haven't been so easy for Wilcox over the past several weeks. A calm demeanor and a handful of acrobatic saves helped him return to top form and claim his ninth career shutout.

Wilcox moves into second place on the all-time shutout list and fifth on the all-time wins list with his 57th victory.

The Gophers offense continued its hot start with a third five-goal effort in the past five games. Five players scored goals and seven skaters contributed 10 assists in the offensive outburst.

"I had a good week of practice, and it carried over to the game," Wilcox said. "We were working the whole game. It's not like we had a lot of ups and downs like we've had the last couple of weeks. I think once we tighten it up, we'll be a pretty good team."

Wilcox tightened up the net immediately on Friday. His first save shut down one of several odd-man rushes by Notre Dame (5-3-1). The Irish later became visibly frustrated.

The most impressive save of the bunch gave the No. 1 Gophers (6-1) the boost they needed playing without injured veterans Travis Boyd and Brady Skjei. Two Notre Dame forwards broke in with no defenders in sight but skated away with nothing. Anders Bjork dished to Vince Hinostroza, whose shot was kicked away by Wilcox.

Wilcox's demeanor didn't change as the Gophers built a four-goal cushion early in the third period. He made several impressive stops on a late Notre Dame power play and showed off his agility by leaving the crease to break up passes or attack loose pucks.

"When he's at his best, he's calm, and he was calm tonight," Gophers coach Don Lucia said. "No wasted energy, and he made some real big saves at critical points of the game. Especially in the first period, he made some real big ones. It allowed us to eliminate some of the mistakes we made early.

"But I thought we came out and played very well. We had really good energy to our game. Good pace to our game and improved in the area we hoped to improve and that's in the offensive zone."

Sophomore forward Justin Kloos sparked the offense with an early power-play goal. Freshman forward Leon Bristedt scored his first collegiate goal on a breakaway led by Hudson Fasching. Junior defenseman Mike Reilly scored his first goal of the season to jump-start a three-goal third period. Senior forward Sam Warning scored under a minute later. And senior defenseman Ben Marshall scored his first goal late in the game to complete the blowout.

Taylor Cammarata, Kyle Rau and Michael Brodzinski each contributed two assists.

The complete effort comes after four average defensive performances by the Gophers. Though the Gophers were 3-1 during that stretch, opponents scored 11 goals. Adjustments on the forecheck and a more relaxed goaltender helped re-establish a consistent defensive effort.

Notre Dame's six-game unbeaten streak came to an end in its first road test. Top scorer Mario Lucia, the son of the Gophers head coach, was quiet all night.

"Last year we had a lot of four-line scoring, so it's important to have that again this year, and it was a good win tonight for all four lines," Cammarata said. "[Wilcox] got off to a couple slow starts last week, so it was important for him to get off to a good start. And he had a couple great saves right off the bat there, so that got him going for the rest of the game."