NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Dylan St. Cyr stopped 30 shots, but Notre Dame was blanked by Minnesota, 3-0, on Friday night inside Compton Family Ice Arena.
The Irish finished the night 0-for-3 on the power play while the Gophers went 1-for-2.
Jack LaFontaine stopped all 24 shots he faced to earn the shutout win in goal for Minnesota as the Gophers snapped Notre Dame’s three-game winning streak.
How It Happened
Landon Slaggert nearly put the Irish on top a minute into the first when he picked up a carom in front, but he chipped the bouncing puck off the post.
Colin Theisen and the Irish had a few scoring chances on a power play midway through the first but then Notre Dame was whistled for a penalty of its own. After a minute of four-on-four, Minnesota’s Sammy Walker made it a 1-0 game, scoring on the shortened Gopher power play at 11:10 with a wrist shot from the slot. Minnesota held the one-goal lead into the first intermission.
St. Cyr kicked aside a Sampo Ranta breakaway attempt just over five minutes into the middle frame to keep it a one goal game.
Moments later, Landon Slaggert gathered a Solag Bakich lead pass to skate in on a breakaway from the offensive blue line but LaFontaine made the stop.
St Cyr then robbed Walker, getting across his goal crease to deny the attempt from the doorstep with just over eight minutes left in the second. St. Cyr totaled 14 saves in the period as the game remained 1-0 after 40 minutes of play.
The Irish had 4:15 left on the Minnesota major penalty to start the third but the Gophers were able to kill off the extended chance.
Seven minutes into the third the Irish put together a solid penalty kill of their own to keep it a 1-0 contest.
Landon Slaggert had the game’s next great scoring chance after being set up in front by Alex Steeves, but LaFontaine made a sprawling pad save with eight minutes to play in the third.
Ranta doubled Minnesota’s lead with a redirection of Brannon McManus’ shot past St. Cyr. The Gophers added an empty-net goal by Blake McLaughin in the final minute to account for the 3-0 final.
Notes
- Senior Matt Hellickson skated in his 138th-consecutive game, dating back to the first game of his freshman season.
- Dylan St. Cyr crossed the 30-save mark for the fifth time this season.
- Earlier on Friday, alternate captains Pierce Crawford & Matt Hellickson were named two of 15 college hockey finalists for the 2020 Senior CLASS Award.
Next Up
- Notre Dame closes out the regular-season series versus Minnesota at 5:30 p.m. tomorrow (Feb. 13) at the Compton Family Ice Arena.
- The game will be on several NBC Regional Sports Networks (check local listings) and can be streamed via the NBC Sports platforms, including the NBC Sports App and NBCSports.com.
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