Fast start produces sweep for Gophers

ANCHORAGE, ALASKA - Fear of playing flat and suffering a letdown in Saturday's rematch against Alaska Anchorage lasted until just after the national anthem finished up at Sullivan Arena.

Nearly flawless in a 5-0 Friday win over the Seawolves, the Gophers racked up a shot a minute in the opening period and rolled to a 3-1 victory.

The victory kept Minnesota unbeaten in the WCHA at 4-0 and improved its record to 7-1 overall. All four conference wins have been on the road.

"We're 4-0 on the road in the WCHA, and I think that is the key stat," coach Don Lucia said. "I thought we came out and had real good energy in the first period. I thought that really dictated the game, and we were able to play with a lead tonight."

Saturday, Minnesota peppered Seawolves goaltender Rob Gunderson with 20 shots in the game's first 20 minutes. Zach Budish converted a back-door pass on the goal mouth off a beautiful Nick Bjugstad pass for a 1-0 lead at 10:54.

Kyle Rau also assisted, giving the Bjugstad-Rau-Budish line 10 points on the weekend. The trio each had two points in Friday's shutout.

On the play, which needed to be seen in slow motion to be appreciated, Rau fed Bjugstad behind the Alaska net. With Budish camped 5 feet away at the post, Bjugstad one-timed Rau's pass to the sophomore from Edina. Budish completed the tic-tac-toe play for his third goal of the season and drew a collective groan from the 3,343 in attendance.

Pumping in goals at a jaw-dropping 38.9 percent rate entering Saturday's rematch, Minnesota rarely left Alaska's zone in three power-play opportunities Saturday.

"For the number of years that I have been here I think it is one of the better power plays that I've seen on our team," goalie Kent Patterson said. "Guys are moving around. We're getting shots off. We seeing guys make a big screen in front."

The other half of the Gophers special teams is proving just as formidable. Minnesota has killed off 88.9 percent of opponents' man advantages.

Erik Haula, who tallied two goals and an assist Friday, entered the game as the leading scorer in the nation with seven goals and 10 assists in eight games.

Nate Condon staked the Gophers to a 2-0 lead with a shorthanded breakaway goal at 4:03 of the second period.

That's where Condon shifted into overdrive and split two Alaska defensemen. He roofed the puck over Gunderson's blocker for his first career shorthanded goal. It was his fourth goal of the season.

Gunderson replaced Chris Kamal in goal Saturday. Kamal had beaten the Gophers in three consecutive games before Saturday's unraveling.

Trailing 2-0, the Seawolves made adjustments to improve their anemic offense. They managed just four first-period shots and entered the game with two goals in its past three games. Buoyed by three power-play chances in the middle period, Alaska fired 14 shots at Patterson in the second period.

Sam Mellor finally solved Patterson with a power-play goal at 11:40. Mellor's backhander through heavy traffic off a series of rebounds snuck into the back of the net to cut the Gophers lead to 2-1. It was the freshman's second career goal.

The goal ended 4 1/2 periods of shutout hockey for the senior, who was seeking to tie Robb Stauber with a school-record fifth shutout in one season.

The loss dropped Alaska Anchorage to 0-4 in the WCHA. The Seawolves started the season 3-0-1 and get next weekend off to regroup.

Lucia called it a satisfying month.