Big third period lifts Gophers men’s hockey at North Dakota; women fall to Ohio State for first loss of season

Brody Lamb had a goal and two assists and the Gophers men’s hockey team used a four-goal third period to earn a 5-1 victory over North Dakota on Saturday in Grand Forks, N.D., ending a four-game winless streak.

The No. 13 Gophers (2-3-1), who had only 15 shots on goal in a 5-2 loss to the No. 8 Fighting Hawks (3-1) on Friday, were held to eight shots on goal in the first two periods Saturday before outshooting North Dakota 13-7 in the final period.

The teams, playing for the first time since 2023, split a series for the fourth consecutive time.

Tanner Ludtke’s power-play goal with 14:14 remaining in the first period put the Gophers ahead 1-0, but UND tied it three minutes later on a goal by Keaton Verhoeff.

For the second night in a row, the teams played a scoreless second period and went into the third period tied.

The Gophers took the lead for good 73 seconds into the final period on Max Rud’s first career goal. Midway through the third period, Leo Gruba extended the lead to 3-1, before Lamb scored with 5:04 remaining.

L.J. Mooney added an empty-netter with 54 seconds left.

The Gophers play host to Minnesota Duluth next weekend.

Joy Dunne had a goal and an assist as No. 2 Ohio State skated to a 4-1 victory over the No. 3 Gophers on Saturday at Ridder Arena.

The loss was the first of the season for the Gophers (6-1, 2-1 WCHA), who went into the game as the top-scoring team in the nation with 6.1 goals per game and 37 goals overall.

The Buckeyes (5-0, 3-0) held Gophers forward Abbey Murphy, who went into the game leading the nation with 12 goals and 18 points, scoreless for the first time this season.

“Obviously, not the result we wanted,” Gophers coach Brad Frost told reporters. “We had some great chances. [Goalie Hannah] Clark played real well. We had some chances, but we just didn’t execute. Madison [Kaiser] got us a little life in the third and allowed us to pull our goalie, but again, poor execution and it ends up in our net. So, we’ve got to learn from it and do better tomorrow.”

The Buckeyes outshot the Gophers 20-6 in the first period.

Despite being outshot 15-8 in the second period, the Buckeyes added to their lead.

Early in the second period, the Gophers had a nearly three-minute power-play — including a 5-on-3 advantage for 1:13 — after the Buckeyes were called for two penalties 47 seconds apart, but the Gophers couldn’t convert.

Dunne scored with 8:33 left in the second period to give the Buckeyes a 2-0 lead. Hilda Svensson’s goal with 1:47 left in the second period made it 3-0.

The Gophers got within 3-1 on Kaiser’s goal with 5:52 remaining, but the Buckeyes’ Jocelyn Amos scored an empty net goal with 1:26 remaining to close out the scoring.