Friday’s game between Minnesota and North Dakota was advertised as a showcase on offense. It was — but only for one team.
The Golden Gophers racked up 48 shots on goal — 42 of them in the first two periods — and scored twice on a UND major penalty in the second period on the way to a 6-1 win before a crowd of 10,215 at Mariucci Arena.
For Minnesota, defenseman Mike Vannelli had two goals and an assist, while Danny Irmen racked up four points with a goal and three assists. Irmen and Ryan Potulny both extended their point-scoring streaks to seven games, matching the Gophers’ current winning streak.
“I wasn’t trying to take too many chances, but it worked out well,” said Vannelli, who enjoyed his first multiple-goal game as a collegian.
The Gophers were active right from the start, peppering UND netminder Philippe Lamoureux with 13 shots on goal before UND managed its first.
“We’re making more plays coming up the rink,” said Minnesota head coach Don Lucia. “And that’s when it’s fun, when you make hockey plays like that.”
Minnesota’s win came a month after the Gophers swept North Dakota in Grand Forks, leaving the Sioux doubly disappointed.
“They took two ends out of our building, and to show up here and play like we did is embarassing,” said UND’s Chris Porter.
The Gophers also dominated on defense, allowing only 14 shots on goal through the first 40 minutes. That was despite the absence of Chris Harrington, serving a game disqualification which forced Lucia to move forward Andy Sertich back to the blue line.
“I thought our defensemen, with Chris out of the lineup, really stepped up,” said Lucia.
Despite the final score, there were a few moments of doubt for the Gophers. Already up 2-0 and dominating play early in the second period, Minnesota went on a five-minute power play after a hitting-from-behind major on UND’s Scott Foyt.
With the dagger in their hands, the Gophers briefly turned it on themselves, giving up a Sioux two-on-one that culminated in an Erik Fabian backhander to narrow the lead to 2-1 at 13:44 of the second. That was the only goal allowed by Minnesota’s Kellen Briggs, who quietly rang up 27 saves.
Abruptly, the Gophers heated up again. Still on the man-advantage, Irmen fired a pass through the crease for Potulny, whose shot from a near-impossible angle beat Lamoureux for his 19th goal of the season, restoring the two-goal lead at 14:49.
Minnesota wasn’t done on the power play. With seconds left on the advantage, Vannelli potted his second goal of the game, taking the puck from Ben Gordon and making a scintillating drag move before firing it by Lamoureux (42 saves).
“[UND’s Mike] Prpich lost his stick on me there … and I was hoping [Gordon] would pass it over. He did, and I just kind of did it,” said Vannelli.
“You could feel the momentum change,” said Irmen. “It kind of dropped their confidence back down.”
The floodgates stayed open after a Taylor Chorney crosscheck. On the resulting power play, the Gophers’ eighth of the game, Irmen scored his eighth goal of the season, putting back a loose puck to make it 5-1 at 17:43. That doused any chance of a Fighting Sioux comeback.
UND had some spark to open the third period, but to no avail as Minnesota scored its final goal at 6:22, by Justin Bostrom to make the final 6-1.
“We showed a little bit of life in the third,” said Porter, “but we’ve got to do that for the full 60 minutes. … It’s got to be 60 minutes of hard work, and we haven’t done that all year.”
The matchup was all Minnesota early, though it took the Gophers 13 shots to solve Lamoureux as defenseman Alex Goligoski fired a rebound through traffic for his fifth goal of the year at 10:02 of the first.
With one minute left in the frame, UND defenseman Kyle Radke took a minor for slashing, and was followed into the box by Prpich and Goligoski after those two got into a wrestling match on the ice. Prpich picked up the double minor for roughing after giving Goligoski an extra whack, putting Minnesota on a five-on-three that extended into the second period.
Shots on goal after 20 minutes were 17-3 in favor of the Gophers, who took advantage of Prpich’s miscue early in the second.
After 45 seconds of cycling in the UND zone, Vannelli made the five-on-three count, firing a wrist shot off Lamoureux and in to extend the lead to 2-0.
That was followed by the Foyt major, which eventually closed the door on UND — for one night, at least.
“The guys came in after the game and said, ‘Hey, that’s great, now we’ve got another one tomorrow,'” said Lucia.
Oddly, the result broke a four-year pattern of UND-Minnesota games at Mariucci, which had seen the Sioux win every Friday game going back to Jan. 12, 2001.
The Gophers will try to extend their winning streak in the rematch Saturday at 7:07 p.m. CT, while UND looks to rebound.
