Gophers hockey loses on late goal by Northeastern

BOSTON – Words seemed to escape Gophers men's hockey coach Don Lucia. Senior Kyle Rau couldn't explain how it happened.

Two power-play goals on any given night is usually enough for Minnesota. Entering Saturday night's contest with lowly Northeastern, the Gophers were a pristine 7-0 when scoring on special teams, so man-advantage goals by Rau and sophomore Justin Kloos would leave Minnesota in the driver's seat against most competition.

Apparently, two-win Northeastern didn't fit into that category.

Despite their prowess on special teams, the third-ranked Gophers lost All-American defenseman Mike Reilly to a major penalty 2 minutes, 39 seconds into regulation and never appeared to fully recover, succumbing to a goal late in regulation as the Huskies skated to the 3-2 upset.

Northeastern (3-9-1) finished with a 40-27 shot advantage and a 3-0 lead in even-strength goals.

"They look like the team that won 19 games last year and not the team that has got off to a struggle start," Lucia said. "I thought they played hard. Our specialty teams were good tonight. We scored the two power-play goals; we didn't give up one, but we couldn't score 5-on-5."

The battle began early for Minnesota (8-4), Reilly's penalty allowing the Huskies (2-9-1) to find their offensive groove early.

Minnesota then used the power play to its advantage midway through the first after Zach Aston-Reese tripped Kloos in the offensive zone.

Kloos enacted his revenge 18 seconds later, using a defenseman as a screen and slapping a shot over the glove of Northeastern netminder Clay Witt (25 saves) for a 1-0 lead.

The Huskies would jump ahead 2-1, earning the equalizer before the first intermission on a greasy goal by Dustin Darou.

Six and a half minutes into the second, Boston University transfer Brendan Collier slapped a knuckling shot from the right wall past an unsuspecting Wilcox.

Minnesota's golden opportunity came three minutes later when Torin Snydeman's tripping penalty awarded the Gophers a 48-second 5-on-3 power play.

Minnesota carried all the momentum as they peppered Witt, but the winning goal remained elusive.

With time running down on regulation, Northeastern's Kevin Roy skated through the slot on a cycle play and took a feed from Dalen Hedges before flicking a wrist shot past Wilcox.