Gophers coach Don Lucia said Saturday's 3-1 victory over Bowling Green was the type of game he expected.
"i've seen one of the CCHA assistants and I asked him how Bowling Green was. And he said, 'You have to stay patient because they are good defensively. They have good goaltending. And you might look at the clock halfway through the game and you might be outshooting them 2-1 and it's tied.' That is exactly the kind of game it was."
Actually, the Gophers were behind 1-0 after two periods despite outshooting the Falcons 30-14.
"We only gave up the one goal, we had 30 shots after two, but yet we were down by a goal," Lucia said. "It was just -- to keep playing for the whole 60 minutes and finding a way to win. Obviously Carman's goal was big on the power play off that rush, and getting the game-winner from Hoeffel. Alex made some timely saves. We found a way to win and that's the most important thing."
Mike Carman's goal was his fourth of the season. Mike Hoeffel scored his team-high ninth goal. And junior Alex Kangas stopped 22 of 23 shots, including nine in the third period.
Lucia said it is not easy to play against a trapping defense like the Falcons played. "What you don't want to do is turn the puck over and give them that 2-on-1," he said. "When we were down 1-0, we were OK. Just the way they were playing, you didn't want to get down by two. That would be a tall order, especially when the goaltender was playing well like he was."
Kangas played well, too, Lucia said, adding: "He made some really good saves when it was 1-1 and we were down 1-0. You have to have that. Goaltending is important."
The victory was the Gophers' fourth in a row and fifth in six games. Minnesota needed such a streak to reach .500 for the first time this season at 9-9-1.