SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Tenth-ranked Minnesota jumped out to a 3-0 lead midway through the first period and went on to defeat 11th-ranked Notre Dame 5-1 on Friday night in game one of a weekend series at Compton Family Ice Arena (4,711).
Blake McLaughlin finished with a pair of goals to lead the Gophers, while Trevor Janicke scored on the power play for the Irish.
“Most of the problems we had were self-inflicted,” Head Coach Jeff Jackson said after the game. “We gave up way too many odd man rushes … that was a result of not doing a good job with the puck in certain areas of the ice and then in other areas we were overextending.”
Matthew Galajda and Ryan Bischel combined for 19 saves in the Notre Dame net, while Justen Close made 28 stops for Minnesota as Notre Dame outshot the Gophers 29-24.
The Irish finished 1-for-4 on the power play, while Minnesota was 0-for-3.
How It Happened
Minnesota used goals by Grant Cruikshank (6:05), Tristan Boz (8:40) and Blake McGlaughlin (11:09) to build a 3-0 lead in the first 11 minutes of the first period.
Ryan Bischel entered in relief of Matthew Galajda and made a big left pad stop on Matthew Knies with 3:11 left in the first and the teams headed to the locker room with Minnesota in front 3-0 after one period of play.
Sammy Walker pushed the lead to 4-0 just 37 seconds into the second with his eighth goal of the season.
The Irish then went to work on a power-play chance early in the second with Chase Blackmun, Trevor Janicke and Grant Silianoff all forcing Justen Close into a series of saves but he was able to keep Notre Dame off the board.
Notre Dame got on the board at 16:22 of the second when Trevor Janicke tipped in a Chase Blackmun pass for his second power-play tally in as many games. Spencer Stastney had the second assist on the play, which was Janicke’s ninth goal of the season.
Just after the Irish goal, Ellis created a partial breakaway attempt but while dealing with the back-check his shot went just wide.
Bischel then denied Cruikshank on a 2-on-1 attempt but then McLaughlin converted an odd man rush with Notre Dame pressuring the other way to make it a 5-1 game after two periods of play.
With 12:14 left in the third Landon Slaggert had a breakaway attempt but Close made a pad save while the Gophers were whistled for a hook. On the ensuing power play, Trevor Janicke had his shot from the slot partially blocked on the best Irish look.
Notes
- With his goal, Trevor Janicke has a two-game point streak (2-1-3).
- With an assist, Spencer Stastney has now tallied a point in seven of Notre Dame’s last eight contests (3-6-9) and has a two-game point streak (1-3-4).
- With an assist, Chase Blackmun has a two-game point streak (0-2-2) and the graduate student has a point in three of Notre Dame’s last four games.
- Notre Dame is now 10-5-0 at Compton Family Ice Arena this season.
Next Up
- Notre Dame and Minnesota will close out their regular-season series tomorrow night in a 6 p.m. tilt at Compton Family Ice Arena (tickets).
- The game will be available on Peacock.
– ND –