Bob Motzko didn't want to be too critical. The Gophers coach had just seen his team beat Penn State 3-2 in Saturday's Big Ten tournament semifinal, with Sammy Walker scoring the winning goal at 17 minutes, 21 seconds of the third period to send the Gophers to next week's championship game.
As exciting as it was, Motzko still deemed the game a "clunker.'' The No. 2 Gophers surrendered a 2-0 lead with an unfocused second period at 3M Arena at Mariucci, forcing them to come up with some late heroics to secure their ninth consecutive victory. Walker and his linemates delivered just in time, giving the Gophers the chance to defend their Big Ten tournament title at home next Saturday against No. 4 Michigan.
After a first-period goal by Ben Meyers and a power-play tally by Jackson LaCombe early in the second, the Gophers got away from their plan. The Nittany Lions pounced, tying the score with a pair of goals by Tyler Paquette and Dylan Lugris in the final 5:02 of the second period.
Walker got the game-winner when Bryce Brodzinski kept the puck in at the blue line and passed to Blake McLaughlin, who found Walker open at the right post. That delighted a crowd announced at 6,856 — a Big Ten tournament record under the format begun in 2018— but left Motzko looking to tidy things up for next week's title game.
"We completely unplugged ourselves [in the second period],'' Motzko said. "We survived. Let's hope this was our clunker.
"We needed one [goal], and we got it. We'll be better next week.''
BOXSCORE: Gophers 3, Penn State 2
In Saturday's first Big Ten semifinal, Michigan defeated Notre Dame 2-1 to earn a trip to the title game in Minnesota. While Penn State entered the semifinal in a slump, with one victory in its final seven games of the regular season, the Gophers came in on a roll, sweeping their final four league series.
Saturday, the Nittany Lions got physical in the early going, trying to limit the Gophers with a tight-checking defense. Motzko, whose team was off last weekend, thought the Gophers were rusty to start.
Meyers gave them the lead at 12:04, deflecting a rising shot by Ryan Johnson past goalie Liam Souliere. LaCombe made it 2-0 on a power play only 27 seconds into the second period. As 6-3 forward Matthew Knies screened Souliere, LaCombe threw the puck on net from the center point, and it went in.
But Penn State roared back. Gophers goaltender Justen Close, who recorded shutouts in his past two games, stopped several good scoring chances before surrendering a goal at 14:58 of the second. Paquette split the Gophers' defense and finished off a breakaway, ending Close's shutout streak at 179 minutes, 59 seconds.
Motzko said the Gophers stopped playing as a team and started to get frustrated, leading to a roughing penalty on Tristan Broz. That led to a power-play goal by Lugris, who tipped in a shot by Connor MacEachern to tie the game 2-2. The power-play goal was the first yielded by the Gophers in 10 games.
"We kind of got away from our game,'' Walker said. "At intermission, we just settled down. We knew what we had to do.''
His goal ensured the Gophers would return to home ice Saturday for a fourth appearance in the Big Ten tournament title game. The Gophers are 2-2 against Michigan this year, splitting both a home series and a road series. The Gophers beat Michigan in the championship game in 2015, and the Wolverines turned the tables in 2016.
"It's going to be fun,'' Walker said. "We're excited. We've just got to keep our foot on the pedal and keep going.''
