Budish regains form to lead Gophers past Bemidji State

Zach Budish, a redshirt sophomore for the Gophers with two surgically repaired knees, has regained his scoring touch.

Budish scored two goals in the opening period, his ninth and 10th of the season, as the No. 7-rated Gophers shut out Bemidji State 3-0 on Friday at Mariucci Arena. The victory keeps the Gophers in first place in the WCHA race with five conference games left.

Minnesota Duluth and Denver also won and stayed on the Gophers' heels. UMD is one point back and Denver two points back in the WCHA standings.

Nick Bjugstad and Kyle Rau, Budish's linemates, also had a hand in the scoring. Bjugstad had the Gophers' third goal, his 22nd of the season, and one assist. Rau had two assists.

"That line just manhandled us, they were so good," Beavers coach Tom Serratore said.

Gophers goalie Kent Patterson was sharp, too, when he needed to be. He made 13 saves for his seventh shutout. His last imitation of a stone wall, breaking a single-season program record, was Nov. 19. So it's been awhile.

Budish's wait to start collecting goals in bunches had been much longer. The last time he was a big scorer was his junior year in high school at Edina. Now he has four goals in the past three games.

Budish also was excited by how the whole team performed. "We didn't have a penalty the whole game," he said. "I don't know how many turnovers we exactly had, but it is probably the lowest we had in quite a while. And Kent played great in net."

Budish staked Patterson to a 1-0 lead one minute into the game. Parked in the slot below the hash marks, the 6-3, 212-pound ex-linebacker redirected defenseman Mark Alt's shot into the net. Eight minutes and a few ticks later, Budish scored from near the same spot but a few feet closer in, on a rebound.

That 2-0 lead was more than enough offense for the Gophers (20-11-1, 16-7-0). They outshot the Beavers 36-13. Their third goal, by Bjugstad, came a third of the way through the middle period on the power play.

"We wanted to prove that last weekend wasn't us," said Budish, referring to the Gophers' two losses at Denver.

Budish, meantime, is showing he can score again.

Nashville took him in the second round of the 2009 NHL draft, and he showed promise as a college freshman with seven goals. But another disappointing year followed.

Budish had two goals in his first seven games last season, then had a moped accident that led to ACL surgery on his right knee.

He returned as an assistant captain this season and as the right winger on the Gophers' top line. But until last weekend -- when he had a goal in each game at Denver -- he was primarily a passer with 16 assists. Budish has lost about 4 pounds the past month riding a stationary bike. The extra workouts seem to be helping him.