The Gophers snapped their seven-game losing streak in fashion Friday at 3M Arena a Mariucci, upsetting rival Wisconsin 4-1.
It was the fifth-straight loss for the eighth-ranked Badgers, while Minnesota has four top-10 wins on the campaign.
LJ Mooney and Erik Pahlsson each scored power-play goals.
Mooney’s goal came via a one-timer from the left circle off a feed from Luke Mittelstadt to knot the game at 1-1 late in the opening stanza. Pahlsson put Minnesota up for good with a sharp-angle shot to give Minnesota a 2-1 lead midway through the second. Fewer than two minutes later, a Brodie Ziemer redirect extended the advantage to two goals.
It was Minnesota’s first win since the calendar flipped to 2026.
“We needed to get rewarded. I kept saying traction. You know, the words that I’ve been saying. How many of those games, even in the last six, had we played very well, but we fell behind? Then we’re chasing the game. We finally put two power-play goals in, and we finally got a 5-on-5 goal to extend a lead. Then they had to chase us; and then we got comfortable,” Gophers coach Bob Motzko said in a statement. “One game, but I’ll give our guys (credit). Their focus to work and compete and want to get better through all of it; has been as special as I’ve been around.”
The Gophers and Badgers squared off again Saturday in Minneapolis.
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