The Gophers men’s hockey team showed it can score in a shootout, but officially it played to a 2-2 tie with Boston College on Friday night at 3M Arena at Mariucci.
LJ Mooney and Tanner Ludtke scored shootout goals for the No. 12 Gophers, who were winless in four shootouts last season and had lost 11 in a row. The Gophers were 4-23 all-time in shootouts and hadn’t scored in 28 consecutive shootout attempts before Friday.
“I give our guys credit; they did not get frustrated or get negative, they buckled down and did it the old-fashioned way today and it was great to see,” Gophers coach Bob Motzko told reporters after the game. “I liked how we were competing the entire game. We established an energy level on our forecheck that has to happen, and we had a lot of great chances.”
The Eagles (1-1-1), who defeated the Gophers 3-1 in the series opener on Thursday, took a 1-0 lead in the first period on Ryan Conmy’s power-play goal with 11 minutes, 56 seconds remaining in the period.
Freshman Javon Moore’s first goal of the season tied the score for the Gophers (1-2-1) with 6:32 left in the first period.
The Gophers’ Brodie Ziemer scored on a second-period power play — on assists from Mooney and Luke Mittelstadt — to give the Gophers a 2-1 lead. It was the Gophers’ first power-play goal of the season after going 0-for-7.
The Eagles tied it 2-2 on a goal by Dean Letourneau with 4:24 remaining in the third period.
Nathan Airey made 29 saves for the Gophers, whose winless streak reached three games. Louka Cloutier stopped 31 shots for Boston College.
