MINNEAPOLIS-Senior captain Justin Kloos put the No. 4 University of Minnesota Gophers up for good with his sixth game-winning goal of the year as Minnesota topped No. 19 Wisconsin 3-2 Saturday to reclaim sole possession of first place in the Big Ten.
The Gophers line of Rem Pitlick, Kloos and Tyler Sheehy combined for six points (two goals, four assists) with each forward notching a multi-point game.
A night after falling by a 3-2 margin, the Gophers (21-9-2 overall, 12-4-0-0 Big Ten) reversed the score in the final meeting of the regular season between the Border Battle rivals and now hold a three-point lead in conference play with four games remaining.
Pitlick put Minnesota up early with his 11th goal of the year when the Gophers rookie put a puck through Matt Jurusik's five hole at 8:24 of the first period off a feed from Sheehy. Ryan Norman padded the lead to two when he flicked in a power-play goal with five seconds left in the opening stanza. Jake Bischoff and Kloos set up the second goal as Minnesota's power play went 1-for-3 on the night.
Wisconsin (18-11-1, 11-5-0-0) rallied with a big second period for the second night in a row, scoring two power-play goals from Luke Kunin at 5:18 and Jake Linehart at 19:44.
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Kloos found the puck on his stick and fired in the deciding goal at 14:54 off assists from Pitlick and Sheehy. With six game-winning goals on the season, Kloos ranks tied for the NCAA lead in the category, while 13 career game-winning goals rank tied for second among active skaters.
(GopherSports.com)
