Beckett Hendrickson and Mason Moe scored third-period goals to provide some breathing room and the Gophers men’s hockey team beat Long Island 6-3 to earn a series split at 3M Arena at Mariucci.
The Gophers (5-8-1), who lost Friday’s series opener 6-2, led this one 2-0 and 4-1, but the Sharks (5-6) scored twice in a 30-second span in the second period, on a power-play goal from Brett Rylance and a goal from Isaac Lambert, in a 30-second span to narrow the Gophers lead to 4-3 going into the third period.
Hendrickson restored a two-goal lead at 12:24 of the third, and Moe made it 6-3 at 15:49.
Six players scored for the Gophers, including the first college goal for Teddy Townsend, while Nathan Airey made 22 saves to end the Long Island’s four-game winning streak.
“Well, that was the response we needed tonight, and we got it throughout our lineup, and the power play kicked in a couple,” Gophers coach Bob Motzko told reporters at 3M Arena at Mariucci. “You know, it’s kind of crazy. We gave up six goals yesterday, and the whole emphasis of our meeting was how we played in the offensive zone. Half the game last night we were pretty good, but just little details we were off, and we were much better with it tonight.”
The Gophers jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first period on power-play goals from Brodie Ziemer and Brody Lamb.
After Rylance’s shorthanded goal got LIU within 2-1 with 12:37 left in the second period, Townsend and Jimmy Clark scored 2½ minutes apart to extend the Gophers’ lead to 4-1 with 7:19 left in the period.
The Gophers play host to Penn State next weekend.
