SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Wins are wins, any way you get them, but beating a team at its own game, on the road, has a little extra boost of satisfaction.
That was the script on Saturday, as the Minnesota Gophers used opportunistic offense and outstanding goaltending, beating Notre Dame 3-0 to take four of six Big Ten points in their weekend series.
Justen Close had 38 saves for his fourth shutout of the season as the Gophers improved to 17-6-1 overall and 11-2-1 in the conference. Ryan Johnson, Logan Cooley and Matthew Knies scored for the Gophers, who got even-strength, power play and shorthanded goals in the win.
"We played really hard. And Justen Close was outstanding in goal, and he had to be for us to get the win," Gophers coach Bob Motzko said. "We were still rusty though, and it was evident with how many turnovers we had. But you can see it's going to come back to us."
For the Irish (10-11-3, 5-7-2), goalie Ryan Bischel had 21 saves, but their propensity for taking penalties proved costly. Minnesota won the season series with the Irish with a 3-0-1 mark after they had tied 2-2 in Friday’s series opener.
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"We played really well five-on-five. The difference was our penalty kill was a big problem and some of the penalty calls were very questionable," Irish coach Jeff Jackson said. "Two of the calls could've been dives, could've been embellishment...We took a couple bad penalties and you can't do that against a team like this."
After killing an early five minute major penalty, the Gophers got the only goal of the opening period when Johnson’s shot from the blue line appeared to hit an Irish stick and a shin pad before finding a home behind Bischel.
Heading into the weekend series, Jackson had lamented the Irish propensity for take penalties. It was a problem they cleaned up on Friday, but not so much on Saturday. Notre Dame was whistled for nine minutes of infractions in the opening 20 minutes of the game, including a major penalty (which they killed) and two minors in the final minute of the first. That left Minnesota on a two-man advantage for 85 seconds to start the middle frame.
It didn’t take long for Cooley to double the visitors’ lead on the power play, using his patented patience to wait for an opening in front of the Irish net and beating Bischel on the glove side. After the Gophers took a penalty, Knies made a highlight-reel solo rush to the net and made it 3-0 with his, and the team’s, second shorthanded goal of the season.
The Irish out-shot Minnesota 19-6 in the second period, but Close kept the home team off the board.
"Justen on the back end was huge for us. He bailed us out a lot of times with some huge saves," Johnson said. "Some nice efforts by Cooley and Knies. Overall it was a good win."
Close again kept the Irish at bay in the scoreless final period, punctuated by a major penalty on Connor Kurth in the final minute.
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Extra pucks
Healthy scratches for the Gophers on Saturday included defensemen Matt Staudacher and Carl Fish, and forwards John Mittlestadt and Colin Schmidt.
Notre Dame football coach Marcus Freeman, who had given the hockey team a pep talk following mass on Thursday, was in attendance at Saturday’s game.
Gophers freshman defenseman Luke Mittelstadt was injured in the first period due to a hard hit along the boards by Irish center Hunter Strand. While reports indicated that Mittelstadt’s injury was not serious, he was held out for the game’s final two periods as a precaution. Strand was ejected from the game for hitting from behind.
The Gophers return home for a Big Ten series versus Michigan next weekend, with a pair of 7 p.m. games at 3M Arena at Mariucci on Friday and Saturday, January 20-21.
Minnesota 3, Notre Dame 0
Minnesota 1-2-0—3
Notre Dame 0-0-0—0
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First period — 1. MN, Ryan Johnson 2 (Brody Lamb, Ryan Chesley), 17:45. Penalties — Chesley, MN (5 – contact to the head), 2:27; Hunter Strand, ND (5 & game misconduct – hit from behind), 8:41; Drew Bavaro, ND (cross checking), 19:25; Solag Bakich, ND (roughing after the whistle), 19:57.
Second period — 2. MN, Logan Cooley 12 (Jimmy Snuggerud), 1:13, (PP). 3. MN, Matthew Knies 13 (unassisted), 4:04, (SH). Penalties — Bryce Brodzinski, MN (slashing), 2:49; Ben Brinkman, ND (interference), 16:15.
Third period — No scoring. Penalties — Bavaro, ND (holding), 16:17; Connor Kurth, MN (5 & game misconduct – head contact), 19:07; Bench, ND (unsportsmanlike conduct), 19:07.
Shots on goal — MN 12-6-6—24; ND 7-19-12—38. Goalies — Justen Close, MN (38 shots-38 saves); Ryan Bischel, ND (24-21). Power plays — MN 1-of-4, ND 0-of-2. Referees — Colin Kronforst, Brett Sheva. Linesmen — Nick Huff, Jonathan Sladek. Att. — 5,022.
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