Jimmy Clark scores in overtime as Gophers recover to beat Michigan State

Jimmy Clark saved the Gophers men's hockey team from a winless weekend at home.

Clark scored with 62 seconds left in overtime after his team blew a two-goal lead in the third period, and the No. 8 Gophers pulled out a 6-5 victory over No. 7 Michigan State on Sunday before an announced crowd of 8,494 at 3M Arena at Mariucci.

"Kind of a microcosm of our season," Gophers coach Bob Motzko said. "It was the good, bad and ugly at times."

Clark took a pass from Sam Rinzel and beat Spartans goalie Trey Augustine to hand Michigan State its first conference loss. Bryce Brodzinski also earned an assist, giving him a four-point game on a day he also scored two power-play goals.

Connor Kurth put the Gophers up 4-3 with a breakaway goal 59 seconds into the third period, and Rhett Pitlick, who assisted on Kurth's goal, scored on the power play to make it 5-3 at the 10:15 mark.

But Michigan State pulled within a goal when Nash Nienhuis scored with 4:46 remaining, and with an empty net behind them, the Spartans — who tied the Gophers 3-3 on Friday, then earned the extra point in the Big Ten standings by winning a shootout — forced a second consecutive overtime when Joey Larson scored off a pass from behind the net by freshman Gavin O'Connell, one of only two Minnesotans on their roster.

"It's too bad we got into overtime, but we did," Motzko said. "I liked our resiliency."

Said Brodzinski, "Definitely thought we battled back after kind of a blow to the chest."

Brodzinski leads the Gophers (7-4-3, 3-3-2 Big Ten) with 16 points, and with eight goals he tied Jimmy Snuggerud for the team lead. Jaxon Nelson added three assists, Rinzel had two and Justen Close made 41 saves.

Augustine stopped 35 shots for the Spartans (10-4-2, 5-1-2).

"They're a good team, and they don't quit playing," Nelson said of Michigan State, the conference leader with 19 points. "I think that comes with our youth. We've just got to learn that every team's going to keep playing, and we have to fight everything to the end. Some crazy bounces can happen in college hockey, and we've just got to be able to adapt to those."