Abbey Murphy scored the only goal, Skylar Vetter made 24 saves and the Gophers women’s hockey continued to rely on a strong defensive effort and its power play in a 1-0 victory over host St. Cloud State on Friday at the Herb Brooks National Sports Center.
The fifth-ranked Gophers (23-5-1, 17-5-1 WCHA) earned their seventh consecutive victory. They have given up only eight goals during their winning streak.
“Really solid win by our group tonight,” Gophers coach Brad Frost said. “Really proud of our team in this playoff-like atmosphere. Skylar was great in a 1-0 win, nice power-play goal from Abbey Murphy, and a big three points on the road against a very, very good team.”
Murphy scored her 11th power-play goal of the season, giving the Gophers a 1-0 lead with 5 minutes remaining in the second period. Murphy is tied for the lead in the nation in power-play goals, and the Gophers are third in the nation with 31 power-play goals. Murphy leads the nation with 28 goals this season.
The loss was the sixth in a row for the No. 10 Huskies (15-13-1, 10-12-1), who have been swept by Ohio State and Wisconsin the previous two weekends. The Huskies outshot the Gophers 24-20.
It was the third meeting of the season for the teams. The Gophers won 2-1 on Oct. 17 and the teams skated to a 1-1 tie on Dec. 5. The teams will conclude the series on Saturday afternoon at Ridder Arena.
