MINNEAPOLIS — For the past two weeks, Minnesota head coach Don Lucia and his players have been taking on their final few weeks of the regular season with a playoff mindset.
After winning three consecutive games to open this stretch, the playoff mindset hit a crescendo Saturday.
In the second game of a two-game series between No. 10 Minnesota and No. 6 Ohio State, both teams fought tooth and nail for any offensive chance. In the end the two teams’ bout ended in a 1-1 tie. The battle continued into a shootout as the Buckeyes prevailed in eight rounds to pick up the extra point and clinch second place in the Big Ten.
For the Gophers (19-13-2, 10-10-2-1), their stretch of “playoff games” has gone well thus far. Minnesota swept Wisconsin last weekend as the Gophers made easy work of their border rival.
This weekend, the task was a tougher with the Buckeyes (19-8-5, 12-8-2-1) in town. Minnesota was sixth in the Big Ten in scoring coming into this weekend, averaging 2.75 goals per game. Ohio State, meanwhile, has the sixth best team defense in the country as the Buckeyes allow 2.16 goals per game.
The Buckeyes and their staunch defense was ready to quell any Gopher threat that came Saturday.
“Ohio State hasn’t lost back-to-back games all year, so we knew there would be pushback,” Lucia said.
Through two periods, Minnesota couldn’t buy a goal. Fans oohed and ahhed at every close scoring opportunity for the Gophers. This included a five-minute stretch where Minnesota found itself with an abundance of time on the power play.
“There’s a reason why they have the No. 1 penalty kill in the country,” Lucia said. “We had some close chances there and made their goalie make about a half-a-dozen saves.”
Fortunately for Minnesota, its own defensive core was able to match Ohio State’s defense.
“They’ve done it for us all year,” said Gopher sophomore goaltender Mat Robson. “They’ve been terrific. They’ve been making plays behind the net. When we have breakdowns, they’re willing to eat pucks for me.”
The Gophers were perfect outside the Buckeyes’ goal in the second period. After Minnesota turned the puck over on a failed drop-pass attempt, Buckeye junior center Mason Jobst converted on the other end as he fired a wrist shot past Robson to open the scoring.
In the early going of the third period, Minnesota looked like it was satisfied with a 1-0 loss. That was until, junior left wing Brent Gates Jr. knocked in a loose puck to tie the game at one.
From there, the Gophers were on the attack and had the fans at 3M Arena at Mariucci on the edge of their seats. Minnesota had quality chances but couldn’t get past redshirt junior goaltender Sean Romeo, who gave up three goals this weekend on 63 shots.
“We did a great job fighting back,” Gates said. “We just had that energy and knew we could do it.”
In the end, defense prevailed like it did most of the weekend, and the game ultimately ended in a tie. But in Big Ten hockey, a tie is complimented by a shootout where the winner picks up an extra point.
Each team mustered one goal in the first seven rounds of the shootout. In the eighth round, sophomore defenseman Gordi Myer broke the deadlock and Romeo did the rest to give Ohio State the extra point.
With the extra point, the Buckeyes will head into the Big Ten tournament firmly locked into the No. 2 spot in the conference. Ohio State wraps up its regular season next weekend in Columbus against Wisconsin.
After the game, Minnesota players and coaches came in with a satisfied feeling. The Gophers have gone 3-0-1 in run to end the regular season thus far.
“We’ve had three wins and a tie in the last four games, we’ll take that,” Lucia said.
Heading into the final weekend, Minnesota will need just one point in its two-game tilt with No. 16 Penn State. With the Gophers going 6-1-1 in their last eight games, Lucia appears to be more confident in his group than he was a month ago when Minnesota was swept on home ice by Michigan.
“I just thought there were two really good games this weekend,” Lucia said. “I like the way we’re trending.”
