Erik Haula’s second goal of the game broke a third-period tie, and No. 1 Minnesota beat No. 8 St. Cloud State 4-2 on Friday to pull into a tie for second place in the WCHA.
Nate Schmidt scored 58 seconds later to push the Gophers’ lead to two goals.
Minnesota outshot the first-place Huskies 42-24. St. Cloud State leads Minnesota, Nebraska-Omaha and North Dakota by three points, but Minnesota has two games in hand on the rest of the group.
The Gophers’ Nick Bjugstad and St. Cloud State’s Joey Benik traded first-period goals before Haula put Minnesota (19-4-4, 11-4-4 WCHA) ahead 2-1 in the second period.
Drew LeBlanc evened the game again early in the third period for the Huskies (17-11-1, 14-6-1).
Adam Wilcox made 22 saves for Minnesota, while Ryan Faragher stopped 38 shots for St. Cloud State.
