MINNEAPOLIS — It has been said that the most challenging game to play is when you are trying to end another team’s season. If that is the case, the Minnesota Gophers have a notable challenge looming.

In Friday’s Big Ten playoff opener, Minnesota blew open a close game late, beating Penn State 5-1 to lead the best-of-three series 1-0 and push the Nittany Lions to the brink of an early end to their season.

Minnesota improved to 21-9-5 with two goals from Rhett Pitlick and a 20-save night from goalie Justen Close. True to their low-infraction nature, they took just one penalty in the game and killed it in the third period.

“We were in the dentist’s chair for a period and a half until the Novocain wore off, and then we started to play,” Gophers coach Bob Motzko said. “Then it came. Once we started to get pucks deep and we had a good look to us in the second period.”

Penn State (17-14-3) got a first-period goal from Jacques Bouquot and 22 saves from Liam Souliere, but had a rare offensive outage in the middle period as Minnesota pulled away.

But the loss was not without an aggressive effort from the visitors early on. It was obvious in the first that the Nittany Lions had no intention of seeing their season end this weekend, and they played their typical brand of aggressive offense hockey in the opening period. Rinzel gave Minnesota the early lead, but the Lions answered midway through the period.

After what they thought was the tying goal was challenged by Minnesota and waved off due to an offside player, Penn State forged a tie for real just 28 seconds later. Bouquot got lost behind the Minnesota defense and tapped the puck past Close after a nice cross-ice pass from Danny Dzhaniyev.

“It’s too bad we scored a goal that was offside, but we were able to get it back,” Nittany Lions coach Guy Gadowsky said. “I thought we were playing a good hockey game. I thought the second was a little bit scrambly for both teams, especially us, and in the third they were able to capitalize and pull away.”

Then Minnesota got defensive, holding the Lions to just one shot on goal in the second period and re-taking the lead on Jimmy Snuggerud’s first regulation goal since January. Pitlick scored by popping in the rebound of a Cal Thomas shot in the third, then added an empty-net goal to put things out of reach.

“We came out a little bit slow in the first and we kind of got a whooping in the locker room from coach, and I think we knew what we had to do,” said Gophers defenseman Carl Fish, who had a pair of assists in the game. “Basically, their offense comes from our turnovers and it shows that when we limit those, it’s a whole different hockey game out there.”

The Gophers coaches sparked the rally in the middle period by moving Snuggerud to the wing alongside Jaxon Nelson and Mason Nevers, and their line produced the go-ahead goal.

“Made one switch there maybe halfway through the second period,” Motzko said. “And it worked.”

Gadowsky said his team needs to show resilience in the series’ second game to extend the Lions’ season.

“I expect the same response that we had when that goal was called off,” he said. “The guys stayed true to the course and played and came back and that’s a microcosm of what has to happen (Saturday).”

Extra Pucks

The combination of U of M students being on spring break, the Big Ten Women’s Basketball Tournament being played across the river at Target Center and the Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament happening in downtown St. Paul left 3M Arena at Mariucci with its smallest crowd of the season. The official announced attendance was 4,296, which was in sharp contrast to the two regular-season home games versus Penn State, which drew an arena record two-game crowd of 21,310.

“Tough night to have a home game. There’s this basketball player about two miles from here…Caitlin Clark, she started, so we were watching that,” Motzko said, referring to the Iowa hoops star. “But the ones who showed up for us were loud tonight. There’s a lot going on in this city tonight, but the fans here were great.”

Close assisted on Pitlick’s empty-net goal, giving the Gophers’ goalie four helpers for the season.

Game two of the best-of-three series is at 3:30 p.m. CT Saturday afternoon.

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Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles and coach Matt Eberflus are working on revamping their coaching staff.

After firing five coaches earlier this month, including offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, the Bears began the offseason seeking at least new offensive and defensive coordinators and position coaches for the quarterbacks, wide receivers and running backs.

On Tuesday, the Bears officially announced the hiring of former Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator Shane Waldron as their new offensive coordinator. A deal had been reported Monday to be in the works.

“This was a very exhaustive search, but in the end I’m grateful the journey led us to Shane,” Eberflus said in a statement. “He is a great teacher and communicator with a diverse coaching background among some of the game’s most elite head coaches. I look forward to partnering with him as we build out the rest of the staff and get him started here.”

Waldron said in a statement: “I appreciate this opportunity given to me by Coach Eberflus and Ryan Pole. We can’t wait to get to work at a franchise with such a storied history and passionate fan base.”

Here’s how the offensive coordinator hiring process unfolded.

Jan. 18

The Bears are expected to interview former Arizona Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury, ESPN reported.

The rundown: Kingsbury, 44, spent this past season as a senior offensive analyst and quarterbacks coach at USC, where potential No. 1 draft pick Caleb Williams played. The Bears are getting deeper into their evaluations of Williams as they determine whether to draft a quarterback with the No. 1 pick this spring. Williams threw for 3,633 yards with 30 touchdowns and five interceptions in 12 games in 2023.

In four seasons as the Cardinals coach, Kingsbury was 28-37-1. The Cardinals fired him last January following a 4-13 season after the team made the playoffs a year earlier behind quarterback Kyler Murray. Before that, Kingsbury was the head coach for six seasons at Texas Tech, where he coached quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

He also was offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Texas A&M and Houston. Kingsbury played quarterback at Texas Tech and in the NFL, NFL Europe and CFL.

The Bears are interviewing Los Angeles Rams passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach Zac Robinson, Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer reported.

The rundown: Robinson, 37, has been part of Sean McVay’s coaching staff in Los Angeles for the last five seasons and in his current role the last two years. In 2021, Robinson also served as Matthew Stafford’s quarterbacks coach as Stafford matched a career high with 41 touchdown passes and led the Rams to a Super Bowl title.

This season Robinson contributed to a passing offense that ranked in the top 10 in yards and yards per play.

Robinson was a standout quarterback at Oklahoma State and a seventh-round selection by the New England Patriots in 2010. He spent four seasons in the NFL with the Patriots, Seattle Seahawks, Detroit Lions and Cincinnati Bengals.

The Bears have requested an interview with Philadelphia Eagles senior offensive assistant Marcus Brady, ESPN reported.

The rundown: Brady, 44, spent the 2023 season on Nick Sirianni’s Eagles staff after five seasons with the Indianapolis Colts.

He worked on the same Colts coaching staff as Bears coach Matt Eberflus for four years under Frank Reich, though on the opposite side of the ball from Eberflus. With the Colts, Brady rose from assistant quarterbacks coach (2018) to quarterbacks coach (2019-20) and then to offensive coordinator (2021-22) after Sirianni left for the Eagles. The Colts offense was one of the best in the league at running the ball in 2021, but it ranked 27th in total yards per game with 311.6 in 2022.

Brady also spent nine seasons coaching in the Canadian Football League.

Jan. 17

The Bears are interviewing Carolina Panthers offensive coordinator Thomas Brown, The Athletic reported.

The rundown: Brown, 37, completed his first year as the Panthers coordinator after three seasons with the Rams, with whom he won a Super Bowl under McVay.

The Panthers struggled behind rookie quarterback Bryce Young in 2023, averaging a league-worst 265.3 yards per game. With the Rams, Brown coached running backs and then tight ends and had the title of assistant head coach in his last two seasons.

The former Georgia running back was a running backs coach in college for eight seasons, including with Wisconsin, Georgia, South Carolina and Miami, where he also was the offensive coordinator. Brown also is scheduled to interview with the Tennessee Titans for their head coaching position.

Jan. 15

The Bears interviewed former Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator Greg Roman, NFL Network’s Peter Schrager reported.

The rundown: Roman, 51, is a longtime NFL coach who served as offensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers, Buffalo Bills and Ravens. Among his accomplishments is crafting the Ravens offense around dual-threat quarterback Lamar Jackson and helping Jackson to an MVP season in his second year in 2019. The Ravens had the best rushing offense in the league that year.

However, Roman and the Ravens parted after the 2022 season after the offense declined. The Ravens went from averaging 33.2 points in 2019 to 20.6 in 2022.

Jan. 12

The Bears interviewed Seahawks quarterbacks coach Greg Olson, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

The rundown: Olson, 60, has been a college and NFL quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator since 1990. He has extensive experience as an NFL offensive coordinator, holding the position with the Lions, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, St. Louis Rams, Oakland and Las Vegas Raiders in separate stints and Jacksonville Jaguars.

He most recently was the Seahawks quarterbacks coach in 2023 and a senior offensive assistant with the Los Angeles Rams in 2022. Olson spent the 2003 season as the Bears quarterbacks coach.

The Bears planned to interview Kentucky offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Liam Coen, CBS Sports reported.

The rundown: Coen, 38, has one season of NFL offensive coordinator experience with the Rams in 2022, though McVay called the plays. He was an assistant wide receivers coach and assistant quarterbacks coach with the Rams from 2018-20.

Beyond that, Coen has been a college quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator since 2010 at Brown, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maine and most recently Kentucky in 2021 and 2023.

Jan. 11

The Bears planned to interview 49ers passing game coordinator Klint Kubiak, ESPN reported.

The rundown: Kubiak, 36, is in his first season with the 49ers under Kyle Shanahan. Before that, he was the Denver Broncos passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2022 for Russell Wilson and their QBs coach from 2016-18.

Kubiak, the son of longtime NFL coach Gary Kubiak, also worked for the Minnesota Vikings as offensive coordinator in 2021 and quarterbacks coach from 2019-20, working with Kirk Cousins.

Jan. 10

The Bears requested an interview with Seahawks offensive coordinator Shane Waldron, NFL Network reported.

The rundown: Waldron, 44, was the Seahawks offensive coordinator the last three seasons, helping quarterback Geno Smith to a comeback season in 2022. Before that, he spent four seasons with the Rams as passing game coordinator, quarterbacks coach and tight ends coach under McVay.

He also served as an offensive assistant with the Patriots (2008-09) and Washington (2016) and worked in operations with the Patriots early in his career. He has coached in college, high school and the UFL.

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Gophers coach Brad Frost called it one of the flukiest goals he has ever seen. It’s also one this group of Gophers might not ever forget.

The Gophers were nine seconds away from a regulation victory in the WCHA Final Faceoff semifinals on Friday at Ridder Arena when Wisconsin’s Casey O’Brien scored off a scramble in front of the Gophers’ net to send the game into overtime.

The Badgers then skated away with a 4-3 victory when Lacey Eden beat Gophers goaltender Skylar Vetter on a backhander from the slot at 7:59 of the extra session.

No. 2 Wisconsin will meet No. 1 Ohio State, a 5-0 winner over Minnesota Duluth in Friday’s first game, in the championship game on Saturday.

The No. 5 Gophers (27-9-2) now await the news on Sunday on where they are headed for the NCAA Tournament. In the meantime, they undoubtedly will replay in their minds those final eight seconds of regulation again and again.

Frost and his staff replayed the video again and again in the locker room as the Gophers prepared for the overtime.

“The puck got below the goal line to the side of our net,” Frost said as he recounted what took place. “O’Brien tried to pass in front of the net. (Gophers center) Ella (Huber) leads with her stick, it goes off her stick and pops in the air. It goes off Skylar’s shoulder and into the net.”

The Gophers had taken a 3-2 lead at 16:16 of the third period on a power-play goal by captain Peyton Hemp. Although the Gophers ended up being outshot 42-23 in the game, it appeared they were going to be able to hang on.

“It’s a game of perseverance,” Wisconsin coach Mark Johnson said. “You’ve got 38 seconds to go in the game and a faceoff in your own end. Can you get your goalie out? We found a way to get that chance.”

Eden’s game-winning goal also came off a scramble.

“After we got that one with eight seconds left in regulation the momentum was totally on our side,” Eden said. “We were buzzing, we were knocking at the back of the net for a while going into overtime.

“Sometimes the puck ends up on your stick in the slot area. Britta (Curl) made a nice place, and it’s just get the puck to the net. You never know what’s going to happen.”

The Gophers played without No. 2 center Madison Kaiser after the midpoint of the second period after she appeared to injure her left arm after crashing into the end boards on a rush toward the Wisconsin net.

Allie Franco moved up from the fourth line to replace Kaiser on the second line, and she had a great chance to end the game six minutes into overtime, only to be stopped in tight by Badgers goaltender Ava McNaughton.

Franco skated away shaking her head and looking toward the sky.

Less than two minutes later, Eden scored the game-winner.

“We live another day and the opportunity to play for a trophy,” Johnson said.

The Gophers, who had hoped to defend their WCHA Tournament championship, will need to regroup after a heart-wrenching loss.

“Obviously, the results weren’t what we wanted when you look back and we’re eight seconds from winning the hockey game,” Frost said. “But really proud of our group.

“Man, they battled. In the end we couldn’t find a way to win it even though we had some chances. We were right there against a very, very good opponent.”

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