Last-minute goal sinks Gophers men’s hockey in 3-2 loss at Notre Dame

Danny Nelson scored with 51 seconds remaining to lift Notre Dame to a 3-2 victory over the Gophers men’s hockey team on Saturday, Feb. 14, in South Bend, Ind.

The Gophers pulled goaltender Luca Di Pasquo after Nelson’s goal and had four shots blocked by the Irish in the final 26 seconds.

Nelson, a junior forward from Maple Grove, won the game with his 11th goal of the season.

The Gophers (10-19-2, 6-13-1 Big Ten) had leads of 1-0 and 2-1 before the Irish (6-20-4, 2-15-1) tied the game at 10:17 on a power-play goal from freshman forward Cole Brown. Notre Dame, which entered the game fifth in the nation in power-play success (.286), was 0-for-3 on the power-play in the 2-2 tie in the series opener on Friday. The Gophers got the extra point in the shootout on Friday.

“Disappointing on how it happened because we played our tails off tonight. We put ourselves in a great position on the road, but we take an offensive-zone faceoff with a stick, and they get a power-play goal. Then we had a mix-up on a faceoff in the offensive zone, to give up a 3-on-2. That’s the game, and those are painful lessons,” Gophers coach Bob Motzko told reporters after Saturday’s game.

Defenseman Cal Thomas opened the scoring for the Gophers with 13:39 remaining in the first period. It was the first goal of the season for Thomas, a senior from Maple Grove.

The Irish tied the game with 5:38 remaining in the second period on a short-handed goal from junior forward Cole Knuble.

Big Ten standings

The Gophers regained the lead with 51 seconds left until the second intermission on a goal from freshman forward Javon Moore.

The Gophers are idle next weekend before playing on Feb. 26-27 at No. 2 Michigan. The Gophers close out the regular season against top-ranked Michigan State on March 5-6 at 3M Arena at Mariucci.

No. 2 Ohio State completed a sweep of the No. 3 Gophers women’s hockey team with a 3-1 victory on Saturday in Columbus, Ohio.

The Gophers (24-7-1, 18-7-1 WCHA), who lost 4-2 in the series opener on Friday, led 1-0 in the first period. The Buckeyes (28-4-0, 22-4-0) scored the game’s final three goals, however.

“Obviously, we’re disappointed with the outcome,” Gophers coach Brad Frost told reporters after the game. “It’s frustrating not coming out of here with some points, but at the same time, we’re very proud of our group. We had a depleted lineup again and a tough break getting a [major penalty] called on us late in the second period. We went back out in the third, killed the rest of that off and mounted some offense, but we just couldn’t find the back of the net here today.”

The Gophers took a 1-0 lead with 7:51 remaining in the first period on a power-play goal from sophomore defender Chloe Primerano.

Less than three minutes later, Ohio State’s Grace McCoshen, a sophomore defender from Northfield, tied the game with the first goal of her career.

Freshman forward Maxine Cimoroni put the Buckeyes ahead 2-1 with 4:06 left in the second period. Then Gophers senior forward Madison Kaiser was called for a 5-minute major for contact to the head with 1:04 remaining in the period, and senior forward Sloane Matthews, a Wayzata native, scored a power-play goal with 11 seconds left until the second intermission.

The Buckeyes won the season series 3-1 thanks to their victory. The two teams split a two-game series in October at Ridder Arena.