Gophers Split Series With Sparty After 4-2 Loss

After a promising start, the Gophers faded and never recovered on Friday. Minnesota was forced to settle for a series split as Michigan State topped the Maroon and Gold by a score of 4-2.

Spartan Success
Don Lucia put it well after the game, “The best team won tonight.” Despite beginning the game with solid push, the Gophers couldn’t sustain the pressure and were outplayed by MSU. The Spartans offense looked much-improved from Thursday, something that helped to keep Minnesota from attacking.

“I thought we were better offensively tonight, that’s what led to better defense,” said Michigan State head coach Tom Anastos. “I thought our forecheck was way better, way more offensive zone possession time.”

Lucia noted that it was a team effort for the Spartans.

“They defended well,” said Lucia. “They were first on pucks. They were winning some battles and they deserved to win.”

A strong defensive team, Michigan State was able to prevent easy goals around the cage.

“They were keeping us away from the front of the net, that’s how we scored last night,” said Kyle Rau. “I’m sure that was an emphasis for them this morning. They did a good job of that.”

Wilcox Returns
After sitting out on Thursday, Minnesota backstop, Adam Wilcox, returned to action. It’s certainly encouraging that he won’t be sidelined for an extended period of time. Nick Lehr got the win last night but it is next to impossible to replace Wilcox.

“I thought Adam was good,” said Lucia. “You can’t fault him…He did have limited practice time this week but he looked 100%.”

There were plenty of things wrong with Minnesota’s game and Wilcox wasn’t one of them.

“Adam wasn’t our issue tonight,” said Lucia. “We couldn’t find our game tonight. I think a lot of credit goes to how Michigan State played.”

Draeger’s Homecoming
Minnesota Wild draft pick and Minnesota native, John Draeger, scored Michigan State’s first goal. The defensive-minded blueliner had scored just one goal in 88 career games, something his coach was happy to see changed on Friday.

“It was like a root canal finally coming to fruition,” joked Anastos. “It was nice, especially at home. It’s his home state, Minnesota Wild draft pick. The kid works his tail off every single day and it was really nice to see him get rewarded.”

By the Numbers
1 Powerplay for the Spartans and it was a costly one as Hudson Fasching left the Gophers shorthanded with just 1:52 left. MSU would capitalize and put the game out of reach.

10 Margin that Michigan State outshot Minnesota on Friday.

4 Games in a row that the Gophers have allowed the first goal.

Three Stars of the Game
#3 Kyle Rau scored both Gopher goals.
#2 Michael Ferrantino scored the game-winner in the third.
#1 Ryan Keller added a goal and an assist.

What’s Next
Minnesota will travel to Columbus for a two-game stint against Ohio State. Friday’s game will be at 4:00 CT on ESPNU while Saturday will be at 5:00 CT on ESPNEWS.

That loss was killer for at-large chances. Gophers likely still in at this point but they have no room for error.

Gopher07 said:

That loss was killer for at-large chances. Gophers likely still in at this point but they have no room for error.

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Not really. Still at 13 with hay to be made with series against OSU (must sweep) and PSU (must split, although sweep would be much more key). Then win one in BTT (which we've got a bye looking very very likely) and they'll be sitting right around 12 and I don't think we're going to see enough bid stealers to pop them out at that point. Also teams out east keep dropping games they should win which is helping. ND has rallied back and is improving our win quality OOC. Unless this team loses to someone they shouldn't (OSU or swept by PSU), they'll be in barring some craziness come conference tourney time.

Now if that's what you meant by no room for error, then yes we agree. But I think they can lose 2 more games and still get in at this point. Again that's only expecting about 2 bid stealers (B10 if not Gophers, and Atlantic Hockey although the ECAC could pick up one more. Would be nice if they'd just win out at this point though to assure it since we're easily the best team in the B10 if Wilcox and the defense can figure their **** out.

That loss did however likely lose us the B10 regular season title though b/c of Michigan having the higher number of wins overall in conference so we lose the tiebreaker. Unless we get some major help from Wisco tonight

Gopher07 said:

That loss was killer for at-large chances. Gophers likely still in at this point but they have no room for error.

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Thursday I am waiting for the stupid basketball game to end so they'll start showing the hockey game. Finally the game comes on. I'm shocked to see they are down 3-0 already and Lehr is in the nets and looking shaky. But they come out in the 2nd and 3rd period and skate circles around Michigan State for a nice win.
They follow that up with Friday's game. Friday's game was one of the most pathetic efforts I've ever seen by the Gophers at home. With so much on the line you'd think they would have been sky high to play Fridays game ! But they weren't ! They didn't move their feet, were constantly being beaten to the puck. If this team even makes the playoffs they won't go far. It's sad to see such a talented team with so little heart.

north45 said:

Thursday I am waiting for the stupid basketball game to end so they'll start showing the hockey game. Finally the game comes on. I'm shocked to see they are down 3-0 already and Lehr is in the nets and looking shaky. But they come out in the 2nd and 3rd period and skate circles around Michigan State for a nice win.
They follow that up with Friday's game. Friday's game was one of the most pathetic efforts I've ever seen by the Gophers at home. With so much on the line you'd think they would have been sky high to play Fridays game ! But they weren't ! They didn't move their feet, were constantly being beaten to the puck. If this team even makes the playoffs they won't go far. It's sad to see such a talented team with so little heart.

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Thanks for your input. Please continue to only bitch and moan

upnorthkid said:

Thanks for your input. Please continue to only bitch and moan

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I'm sorry that reality isn't to your liking. I am a HUGE Gopher hockey fan. The reality of the situation isn't to my liking either !

north45 said:

I'm sorry that reality isn't to your liking. I am a HUGE Gopher hockey fan. The reality of the situation isn't to my liking either !

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Obviously we all are huge fans of the team. The reality is Hildebrand easily outplayed Wilcox and they cashed in their opps where we did not. They also scored some grinder goals that you're counting on your goalie to stop some of. The shots were not indicative of the play as Michigan st took every opp to shoot they could where the gophs tried to cycle and set up. The reality is this team needs to win 3 of 4 and at least one in the BTT to get in. That's much better than it looked about a month ago. Hopefully next weekend they play 120 minutes of good hockey and sweep. It's not on Lucia or the seniors that our sophomore players aren't getting it done right now. Some of its being snake bit and some of its pressing but I like the direction we're headed. I'll agree that I was hoping we'd come out and roll like we did the last 2 periods Thursday night but mich st played a solid game. It was the bounces that put it 4-2 in their direction instead of ours