MINNEAPOLIS-Leon Bristedt's first career hat trick carried the No. 7 Minnesota Gophers to a 5-2 win over No. 4/6 Penn State Saturday as the Maroon and Gold swept the Nittany Lions at Mariucci Arena.
Bristedt, who found the net short-handed, on the power play and at even strength, was one of eight Gophers to tally points while Eric Schierhorn made a career-high 38 saves to pick up his Big Ten-leading 17th win of the season.
The Gophers (17-7-2 overall, 8-2-0-0 Big Ten) have now won six-straight games at home for a 9-2-1 record at Mariucci Arena. The Maroon and Gold have also picked up wins in 10 of the last 12 games and 13 of the last 16.
Minnesota rallied from a deficit to the visitors twice. Alec Marsh put Penn State up with a goal at 8:14 only for Bristedt to convert on a short-handed breakaway at 14:51.
David Goodwin reclaimed a lead for PSU just 41 seconds into the second period, but Minnesota responded with four unanswered goals to close out the win.
Brent Gates Jr. notched his 12th of the year to tie the game on a one-timer from Mike Szmatula and Connor Reilly at 8:25 of the second. Taylor Cammarata picked up the eventual game winner from Jack Ramsey at 9:39.
Bristedt closed out the period with his power-play strike at 16:39 from Cammarata and Vinni Lettieri and capped the hat trick with an even-strength tally at 5:43 of the third period from Steve Johnson and Jack Sadek.
Minnesota returns to action next weekend with a 2-game Big Ten series at Ohio State.
-- gophersports.com
