Gophers men’s hockey swept by Minnesota Duluth at home to fall to 2-5-1 on the season

Max Plante scored twice in the third period and the Minnesota Duluth men’s hockey team completed a sweep of the Gophers with a 4-1 victory on Saturday night at 3M Arena at Mariucci.

The 18th-ranked Bulldogs improved to 7-1 with the sweep, which began with a 3-0 victory Friday. The 12th-ranked Gophers fell to 2-5-1 on the season.

“The last thing we can do is feel sorry for ourselves or be down, because we’ve lost some games here early in the year,” Gophers coach Bob Motzko told reporters. “We’ve got to push through it. And we’ve got a lot of faith that we will.”

Scout Truman’s power-play goal with 3:11 remaining in the first period put the Bulldogs up 1-0. Hunter Anderson’s goal extended UMD’s lead to 2-0 with 13:46 to play in the second.

Tate Pritchard’s second goal of the season pulled the Gophers within 2-1 with 10:35 left in the second.

Plante scored on the power-play — with assists from Jayson Shaugabay and Zam Plante — to give the Bulldogs a 3-1 lead with 7:52 remaining. Max Plante sealed the victory with an empty-netter with 48 seconds remaining.

Up next for the Gophers is a two-game series at Wisconsin. The games will be played Thursday and Saturday. UMD opens NCHC play next weekend with a two-game series at North Dakota.

The Gophers (9-1, 5-1 WCHA), who won the series opener 4-0 on Friday, extended their unbeaten streak against the Bulldogs (6-4, 2-4) to 15 games (14-0-1) since the end of the 2021-22 season.

“A great win overall, in a hard place to play and a great goaltender we were up against,” Gophers coach Brad Frost told reporters. “Really proud of our team for finding a way there and really bearing down in the third to keep that one-goal lead and ultimately win.”

After a scoreless first period, Caitlin Kraemer’s team-leading seventh goal of the season put UMD up 1-0 with 12:05 left in the second. The Gophers tied it up on a goal by Josefin Bouveng with 8:39 left in the period.

Murphy’s first goal broke the tie with 4:56 left in the period. The goal was the 116th of her Gophers career and moved her past Hannah Brandt (115 goals) into the No. 2 spot on the Gophers’ career goals scored list.

“She’s one of the best, if not the best, goal-scorer we’ve had at the University of Minnesota,” Frost said of Murphy. “For her to do it, how she’s done it, has been really, really impressive. This year, I see her game taking off.”

The Bulldogs got within 3-2 with 3:56 remaining on a power-play goal by Josie St. Martin, but they could never find an equalizer. UMD outshot the Gophers 18-4 in the third period and 39-31 for the game.

Cade Tyson scored 26 points to lead four Gophers in double figures as the Gophers men’s basketball team defeated North Dakota 82-62 in an exhibition game on Saturday at Williams Arena.

Langston Reynolds (17), Chansey Willis (12) and Jaylen Crocker-Johnson (10) also reached double figures for the Gophers. Willis had a team-high eight assists.

Garrett Anderson scored 14 points and Greyson Uelmen had 13 to lead the Fighting Hawks.