Early goals set the tone in Gophers' hockey win at Michigan State

EAST LANSING, MICH. – After scoring just eight goals last season in two one-goal wins and a pair of shootout losses against Michigan State, the Gophers hockey team figured this weekend's series against the Spartans would be another grind-it-out affair.

It took less than a period to dispel that thought.

Propelled by three first-period goals, sparkling special-teams play and 24 saves from goaltender Adam Wilcox, the Gophers rolled to a 5-0 win over the Spartans on Friday in front of 5,781 fans at Munn Ice Arena.

"We talked about how last year they were really tight games," said senior forward Travis Boyd, who returned to the lineup from a monthlong absence because of an injury to score the Gophers' first goal on his first shift.

"We wanted to make sure we came out fast," Boyd said. "We knew our special teams were going to be big tonight."

With Michigan State's JT Stenglein sent to the penalty box for charging two minutes into the game, forward Sam Warning, standing to the left of Spartans goaltender Jake Hildebrand, patiently waited for the traffic to clear from in front of the net and saucered a pass to a wide-open Boyd, who flicked the puck into the yawning net 3 minutes, 25 seconds into the game for his fourth goal this season.

"It was nice to get Boyd back," Gophers coach Don Lucia said. "Getting Travis back gives us three lines where you don't worry about who they're out against — you just play 'em."

Rau's power-play goal in the 14th minute in the opening period made it 3-0. Forward Justin Kloos sprung Rau loose with a lead pass.

Mike Reilly scored the game's only even-strength goal to give the Gophers (9-4, 1-0 Big Ten) a 4-0 lead 3:47 into the second period.

"We did a really good job of working the offensive zone," said Wilcox, who posted his third shutout of the season and the 10th of his career.

"Our goal was to spend more time in the zone, create more shots for us and create fewer shots for them."

The Gophers power play added its third goal of the game — on Connor Reilly's shot — with 6:28 left in the third period. With two Spartans off the ice for minor penalties, Connor Reilly, Mike's older brother, scored on a blast from just inside the blue line that beat Hildebrand cleanly for his fifth goal of the season.

Saturday's challenge for the Gophers is finishing the first half of the season by sweeping the Spartans (5-9, 1-2) to win back-to-back games for the first time in a month.