Tyler Sheehy's overtime goal gives Gophers win over Harvard

Goals were scarce Saturday night at 3M Arena at Mariucci.

So were shots — for Harvard.

The Crimson had only 16 shots on Eric Schierhorn of the Gophers, but forced an overtime with the score tied 1-1 on the home rink of the No. 7 team in Division I hockey.

The extra period didn't last long. Captain Tyler Sheehy scored a power-play goal at 35 seconds to give Minnesota a 2-1 victory. Brent Gates Jr. and Rem Pitlick had assists on the play.

Until then Crimson goalie Merrick Madsen was strong. He stopped 48 shots — 16 in each period and two in overtime.

"A goaltender sometimes has something to say about who is going to win the game," Gophers coach Don Lucia said, "and [Madsen] is an elite goalie. There is a reason he has a 2.0 goals-against [average] for a career."

Henry Bowlby, a freshman from Edina, put No. 13 Harvard (2-5) ahead at 7:02 of the second period on a back door deflection.

The Gophers (9-4-1) tied it when Pitlick scored at 14:38 of the third, on a rebound off a shot by defenseman Steve Johnson. It was his seventh goal of the season. Steve Johnson and Casey Mittelstadt had assists.

For Pitlick, a sophomore forward from Plymouth, it was his eighth consecutive game with a point, a career high.

And the Gophers kept shooting.

"I liked the pace we played with, the relentless attack." Lucia said. "Our 'D' did a good job of getting pucks up to our forwards and we got to some loose pucks. … Rem scored a big goal and we finally won in overtime after losing a couple of difficult ones. Our power play came through."

Minnesota went on the power play for the final 38 seconds of regulation after Mittelstadt was tripped.

"Eric had a couple of timely saves, although he did not get tested a lot," Lucia said. "And we had 50 shots on goal and it took the 50th shot to get to two [goals]."