EAST LANSING, Mich. – The No. 4/3 Minnesota men’s hockey team suffered a 9-3 loss at No. 2 Michigan State in the series opener Friday night from Munn Ice Arena.
The Golden Gophers (19-6-2 overall, 10-4-1 B1G) pulled even on two separate occasions during the second period but could not stop the Spartans (20-3-2 overall, 11-2-2 B1G), allowing a season-high nine goals. Jimmy Snuggerud and Erik Påhlsson each posted multi-point nights and Minnesota is now four points behind MSU for the top spot in the Big Ten Conference standings with nine games remaining in the regular season.
The visitors had to weather an early surge from the league leaders before drawing a man advantage four minutes into the game. Both of its power-play units generated chances on target and forced the home side to make three saves during an unsuccessful advantage. MSU countered and opened the scoring with a shot to the short side after a defensive-zone miscue less than seven minutes into the first period for a 1-0 edge. Momentum stayed with the Spartans that kept the Gophers on their heels until they could generate a forecheck to alleviate pressure late in the frame. Another opportunity to skate 5-on-4 was erased at the end of the frame and Minnesota headed back to the locker room facing a one-goal deficit.
In what turned out to be a wild, seven-goal second period, it took less than a minute for the Maroon and Gold to get even thanks to an Oliver Moore shot that trickled over the goal line 26 seconds into the stanza. August Falloon started the play in the neutral zone by intercepting a pass and chipping the puck ahead to Moore, who put away his bid from the left faceoff dot. MSU responded 1:15 later to regain the lead as it finished off a rebound in the crease. After falling behind again, the Gophers started to maintain their forecheck and challenged the Spartans back line, leading to another tying tally.
Påhlsson brought the puck up ice through traffic before feeding Snuggerud along the wall at the blue line. Snuggerud threaded a perfect cross-ice feed between two defenders, right onto the tape of Ziemer, and the freshman made no mistake, burying the equalizer at the 8:18 mark. The home side answered back, this time just 33 seconds later, behind a shot from the point that found its way through, and after two more minutes elapsed, tacked on a power-play goal via a rebound for a 4-2 margin.
The Gophers got caught pushing their attack and the Spartans capitalized on an odd-man rush for their fourth goal of the period with 6:39 on the clock to make it a three-goal lead and the visitors elected to swap goaltenders. Minnesota did not let the deficit deter it and Ryan Chesley helped drive play forward where he and Påhlsson found Snuggerud in the slot. The junior fought through a stick check in the slot and used a screen in front of the net to get a goal back at the 15:37 mark. A quality 2-on-1 chance by the Maroon and Gold in the final minute was turned away as the visitors faced a 5-3 deficit through 40 minutes of action.
A penalty 2:14 into the final frame gave the Gophers a critical man advantage but again could not convert. The offensive pressure mounted as Minnesota searched to get back into the game and had chances to pull within a goal that had to be denied by MSU and the rest of the period belonged to the home team in front of its sellout crowd. The Spartans pushed the margin back to three as they scored during another odd-man rush at the 8:22 mark and pulled away late for the victory.
Nathan Airey (11-2-2) was handed just his second loss of the season, making 22 saves in 33 minutes before Liam Souliere played the final 27 minutes and turned away 11 shots.
Noteworthy
Snuggerud collected his 12th multi-point effort of the year, this time with a goal and an assist, stretching his point total to 35 … The Chaska, Minn., native has 15 points over his last 11 games and remains second for the NCAA’s scoring lead … Moore recorded his sixth goal of the year and first since Nov. 30 against Alaska and became the sixth Gopher to reach 20 points in 2024-25 … The sophomore continues to pile up offense versus Michigan State with eight points in seven career appearances, including goals in all three games at Munn Ice Arena … Ziemer scored to the glove side for his nine goal this season and nine of the freshman’s 14 points have come in 10 outings on the road … Falloon tallied his third assist and fifth point of the campaign in just 12 outings … Behind a pair of helpers Friday, Påhlsson matched his career-long point streak at three games and has five points in that stretch with back-to-back two assists performances … Chesley increased his point total to 17 as he hit double-digit assists for the first time in his Gophers’ tenure … Minnesota has allowed the game’s opening goal in four of its last five outings and are 8-5-1 this year when allowing the first goal … The Gophers surrendered a season-high nine goals, tying for the fifth-most in a single game in program history, after not giving up more than five in any of their first 26 contests, and allowed more than 40 shots for the first time all season.
Coach Motzko’s Comments
“There were a handful of moments in the first half of the game where we let it get away from us,” Minnesota head coach Bob Motzko said. “Then it completely got away from us. We tied it up at two, and then we lost a draw and all of a sudden we’re down 3-2; they get a power play goal and it’s 4-2. Then we were chasing the game, and it was the wrong team tonight to chase a game on. Thank goodness it was Friday night; we get to come back and play tomorrow.”
