MINNEAPOLIS - Six different players scored a goal Friday night pushing the No. 3 Minnesota men's hockey team to a 6-2 victory over Mercyhurst in non-conference action inside 3M Arena at Mariucci.
The Golden Gophers (16-3-2 overall, 8-1-1 B1G) scored three times in the game's first 22 minutes before the Lakers (2-16-3 overall, 2-10-2 AHA) pulled within a goal in the second period. Minnesota scored the final three goals of the night for the win as ten players tallied at least one point, including a career-high three points from Erik Påhlsson in his first time on the ice in nearly two months.

The Maroon and Gold moved to a power play just 11 seconds into the series opener and put four shots on target that had to be turned away by the visiting goaltender. After erasing the penalty, Mercyhurst drew a man advantage of its own, but the best chance was generated shorthanded by Minnesota's Brody Lamb before the teams skated at even strength. The Gophers were relentless in the offensive zone and continued to pressure the Lakers, firing the game's first 16 shots on goal, covering more than 15 minutes.
Jimmy Snuggerud finally broke through from the right faceoff dot via a patented snipe with 4:55 remaining in the opening frame. Luke Mittelstadt sent a cross-ice feed right to Snuggerud's stick and the junior ripped a wrister to the top corner, helping the Maroon and Gold take a 1-0 edge. The goal came before Minnesota even allowed a Mercyhurst shot as it took until the 15:30 mark before goaltender Nathan Airey was tested.

Three minutes after the opening tally, it was Connor Kurth that fired a shot high over the goalie's blocker to give the home side a two-goal cushion at the 18:07 mark. Matthew Wood started the play slipping between two Lakers and found Sam Rinzel, who got a pass over to Kurth in the slot. The junior wasted no time getting the puck off his stick for a 2-0 lead at the first intermission.
Minnesota picked up another crack at the power play to begin the second stanza, 78 seconds into the period and this time converted when Lamb pounced on a loose puck in the crease. Snuggerud put the initial shot towards goal and was tipped on target by Påhlsson. With the puck sitting in the blue paint, Lamb was able to get to the rebound first and tapped it to the back of the net on his backhand.
Holding a three-goal lead, a penalty to the home team allowed the Lakers a man advantage and the visitors capitalized on a rebound in front of the net, cutting the margin to 3-1 at the 7:09 mark. Less than a minute later, the Gophers picked up their third power-play chance and Jimmy Clark's wraparound bid nearly got past the netminder before the remainder of the penalty was killed. Mercyhurst caught Minnesota out of position during a rush up the ice and used a one-timer to pull within a goal, 3-2, in the middle stages of the frame.
The Maroon and Gold answered right back and put up two goals in a span of 69 seconds late in the period to stretch the margin back to three. Wood battled to get to the front of the net and redirected a Mittelstadt shot from the point at the 17:29 mark to take a 4-2 advantage. The skill of Påhlsson back in the lineup paid off again barely a minute later as the freshman danced around a defender and dropped a backhand pass right on the tape of John Mittelstadt, who was trailing the play. Mittelstadt did not miss from the slot as he dropped to one knee and buried the one-timer, giving the Gophers a 5-2 lead heading into the locker room after two periods.
Minnesota opened the final frame on the offensive again, generating chances from every line, but it was the glove of Airey that stole the show at a critical time. The Gophers allowed an odd-man rush and needed their goalie to deliver in the clutch and the sophomore did exactly that, shutting down the Lakers. The home defense limited the visitors through the final minutes and during a late man advantage for Mercyhurst, elected to pull its goalie. That allowed Påhlsson to ice the game with a shorthanded, insurance tally into the empty net with 1:57 to play in regulation, securing the series-opening victory, 6-2.
Airey picked up his 10th win of the campaign and moved to 10-0-2 overall this year after making 20 total saves.
Noteworthy
Påhlsson returned to the Gophers' lineup for the first time since early November following an injury and immediately made an impact with his first collegiate multi-point performance ... The freshman now has a point in five of last six appearances, totaling eight points overall, thanks to a goal and two assists Friday ... Snuggerud recorded his eighth multi-point effort this season and pushed his team-best point total to 26 ... Skating in the 100th game of his Minnesota career, the junior from Chaska, Minn., tied his season-long point streak at five games ... Kurth's goal and assist was his fifth game with multiple points this year and stretched his point total to a career-high 23, surpassing his 21 from a season ago ... He now has a point in nine of 11 series-opening games in 2024-25 and seven points over the last five contests ... Lamb put away his team-leading 13th goal of the year, setting a new career high, and became the fifth Gopher to reach the 20-point mark ... The Byron, Minn., native has goals in three-consecutive outings for the second time in his career and leads the NCAA with eight power-play tallies ... Behind a goal and an assist Friday, Wood registered multiple points for the eighth time this year and is second on the team with 23 points ... John Mittelstadt finished off his second goal of the campaign and has points in consecutive outings for the first time in his NCAA career ... A two-assist night from Luke Mittelstadt pushed the junior to double-digit points this season and has multiple points in three of his last eight games ... For the eighth time in 10 Friday night games, Huglen reached the scoresheet as he had an assist to reach 14 points for the year ... With 12 points over his last nine outings, including five multi-point efforts in that stretch, Rinzel increased his NCAA-defenseman-leading point total to 22 behind a pair of helpers ... Mike Koster finished the night with a plus-three rating to pace the team and collected his sixth assist this season ... The Gophers picked up a power-play goal for the fourth-straight game and 18th time this season, while scoring at least five goals for the 11th time overall in 2024-25 ... Minnesota played without five regulars from its lineup with three out via injury and two playing with Team USA at the IIHF World Junior Championships.
Coach Motzko's Comments
"Sixteenth win of the year, so that was great to be off three weeks, come back, score some goals, and our rust showed," Minnesota head coach Bob Motzko said. "We got a little bit off our game there in the second and (Mercyhurst) might have been a little intimidated to start the game and then once they scored two goals, Mercyhurst started playing. Then we found ourselves in a game and we had to make a couple of plays to break it free again. A lot of good things and great for Erik Påhlsson to get three points in his first game back to get some confidence going."
Comments