Gophers Fall in Overtime Opener

Gophers Fall in Overtime Opener

MINNEAPOLIS – Three-point nights from Brent Gates Jr. and Rem Pitlick helped the No. 19 Gopher Hockey program rally to force overtime on Friday night, but it was St. Lawrence who scored the deciding goal to claim a 4-3 overtime victory at 3M Arena at Mariucci.

Gates and Pitlick factored into all three of Minnesota’s goals in the nonconference series opener with three assists from the senior forward (a new career high) and two assists and a goal from the junior forward. Jack Sadek and Tyler Nanne also scored goals for the Maroon & Gold.

Minnesota (2-5-1 overall, 1-1-0-0 Big Ten) rallied from a two-goal deficit in the third period, but St. Lawrence’s Michael Ederer tallied the winning goal at 3:19 of the added session to claim a win for the Saints (2-8-0, 0-2-0 ECAC).

It took most of the first period for both teams to get going as the nonconference foes traded goals in the final five minutes of the opening stanza. Alex Gilmour converted on St. Lawrence’s first power-play chance of the night, scoring his first goal of the season at 15:31. Pitlick answered back for the Maroon & Gold less than two minutes later with his fourth of the year at 17:26 when he easily pushed home the equalizer.

But St. Lawrence reclaimed the lead with a two-goal showing in the second period when Carson Dimoff found the net at 13:22 and David Jankowski scored on the power play at 15:41.

It was Minnesota’s turn for a two-goal period in the third as Nanne tallied his first goal of the season at 6:21 when he deflected a centering pass for a shorthanded goal at 6:21 off assists from Gates and Pitlick. Sadek, the only active Gopher with a point against St. Lawrence entering the weekend, added his first goal of the year at 15:22 with assists again coming from Gates and Pitlick.

Mat Robson made 35 saves in net for Minnesota, taking the loss to move to 2-3-1 on the season. Emil Zetterquist improved to 1-0-0 on the year with 37 saves for the Saints.

The Gophers close out this weekend’s nonconference series against St. Lawrence on Saturday at 8 p.m. CT at 3M Arena at Mariucci. Tickets are available at MyGopherSports.com.

Notes: Minnesota outshot St. Lawrence 40-39 in the opener…the Gophers went 0-for-3 on the power play, snapping their streak at six-straight games with a power-play goal…the Saints were 2-for-4 on the advantage…Pitlick, who leads Minnesota with eight points (four goals, four assists), has now recorded a point in six of eight games this season.