MINNEAPOLIS – After his third-ranked Gophers blitzed Notre Dame with five first-period goals on Friday, Minnesota head coach Bob Motzko warned that the Irish would look like a much different team on Saturday.
Boy was he right.
Hermantown native Blake Biondi scored 3:46 into overtime to give Notre Dame a 4-3 victory over the Gophers.
The Irish took a one-goal lead three times in regulation, and each time the Gophers responded with the tying goal. But Notre Dame controlled the puck for most of overtime, and Biondi scored the winner off a feed from Cole Knuble.
Owen Say, who shut out the Gophers for the final two periods of Friday’s 5-2 Minnesota victory, got the start in the net on Saturday and stopped 33 shots. Ian Murphy, Carter Slagget and Knuble also scored for the Irish (8-15-1, 3-12-1 in the Big Ten).
Jimmy Snuggerud, Luke Mittelstadt and Matthew Wood scored for Minnesota (19-5-2, 10-3-1). Liam Souliere stopped 27 of 31 shots.
The Irish struck first, just as they did on Friday, as Murphy redirected Henry Nelson’s shot from the point past Souliere at 7:43 of the first period.
And following Friday’s pattern, Snuggerud tied it up for the Gophers in relatively short order. Snuggerud carried the puck into the attacking zone with a head of steam. Then, showing the stickwork that made him a first-round draft choice of the St. Louis Blues, Snuggerud gave Say a couple of dekes and slipped the puck home through the 5-hole to tie the game at 12:33 of the first.
Notre Dame bounced back to regain the lead early in the second when Slaggert took a pass in the left circle, walked in on Souliere and beat him over the shoulder with a wicked wrist shot.
The Gophers responded three minutes later with a highlight-reel goal by Mittelstadt to tie it up at 2-all. Erik Påhlsson sprung Mittelstadt with a tape-to-tape breakout pass, and the junior from Eden Prairie did the rest, lifting a backhander over Say while falling to the ice for his first goal of the season.
The game stayed tied as Souliere made five saves on Notre Dame’s first power play of the night. But he couldn’t stop Knuble as he converted a 2-on-1 break with a rocket that found the back of the net to give the Irish a 3-2 lead midway through the second.
But as they had done all night, the Gophers had an answer. They tied it up 7:14 into the third when Wood took a centering pass from Oliver Moore, deked a defenseman and slipped a backhander into the net for his ninth goal of the season.
The Gophers are back in action next weekend when they travel to Michigan State for a series that will have huge repercussions on the Big Ten standings, where Minnesota entered the night leading the Spartans by two points.
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