Michigan Tech scored twice in a 53-second span late in the second period to take the lead and beat the eighth-ranked Gophers men’s hockey team 5-3 on Saturday night at 3M Arena at Mariucci.
Five players each scored a goal for Michigan Tech, which trailed 3-2 after one period but shut down the Gophers offense for the final 45 minutes to earn a split of the series. The Gophers won Friday 6-3 in their first game of the season.
“We got the 3-1 lead early, and it’s like we shifted into a gear where we thought, ‘OK, this is going to be an easy game,’ ” Gophers coach Bob Motzko told reporters after the game. “... Then when the game got hard, really hard, we couldn’t shift back into the gear. And that’s a lesson that we’ve got to learn.”
Brody Lamb staked the Gophers to a 1-0 lead 90 seconds into the game, but the Huskies’ Tyler Miller scored with 11:29 remaining in the first period to tie the score.
Erik Pahlsson and L.J. Mooney scored four minutes apart to give the Gophers a 3-1 lead with 6:13 left in the period. Luca Fasciano got the Huskies with 3-2 with 4:51 remaining in the period.
Teydon Trembecky’s power-play goal tied the score at 3-3 with 2:29 left in the second period before Max Koskipirtti gave the Huskies the lead with 1:36 to go.
Noah Rambert’s empty-net goal with 35 seconds remaining sealed the victory for the Huskies.
The Huskies outshot the Gophers 33-13, and winning goalie Owen Bartoszkiewicz made only 10 saves compared to 28 for Luca Di Pasquo, the Michigan State transfer making his Gophers debut. The Gophers outshot Michigan Tech 34-27 in the series opener.
