Aaron Huglen’s late goal gives Gophers men’s hockey a postseason sweep over Penn State

For the Gophers to realize all their hopes and dreams for 2023-24, they’ll need to end the seasons of four opponents in late March and mid-April.

On Saturday afternoon, they practiced that task, ushering Penn State to its offseason with a 3-2 victory for a sweep of the Big Ten hockey quarterfinal series at 3M Arena at Mariucci.

It certainly wasn’t easy.

Aaron Huglen scored with 1:08 left in the third period, waking the Gophers from a slumber over the final two periods during which they were outshot 35-7. Penn State, trailing 2-0 after one period, nearly took the lead twice in the third, once when the puck trickled along the goal line behind Gophers goalie Justen Close and the second time when a goal was called off after a successful Minnesota challenge for offsides.

“We were able to hang on long enough to make a play,’’ said Gophers coach Bob Motzko, whose team improved to 22-9-5 and will play an opponent to be determined in a single-game conference semifinal next weekend. If Wisconsin beats Ohio State on Sunday, the Gophers would visit the Badgers next Sunday. If Ohio State wins, the Gophers would play host to Michigan on Saturday.

Close made a career-high 46 saves, and Jaxon Nelson scored two first-period goals for the Gophers.

“Thank God Justen Close did what he did,” Motzko said. “He gave us a chance at the end.”

On the winning goal, Penn State defenseman Jarod Crespo, pressured by Huglen, coughed up the puck in the Nittany Lions zone. Gophers winger Brody Lamb collected the puck, deked around a Penn State defender and fed the puck to Huglen, who tapped a backhander past goalie Liam Souliere, setting off a celebration for the 5,363 in attendance.

“It’s hard to end a team’s season, and we know that,” Close said. “They definitely didn’t make it easy.”

The Gophers came out strong, taking a 1-0 lead 1:38 into the game when Nelson beat Souliere from the right circle.

The game turned at 4:07 of the first when Gophers sniper Jimmy Snuggerud received a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct for checking from behind. Defenseman Ryan Chesley and Nelson then took back-to-back cross-checking penalties, and the Gophers killed off 3:23 of a five-on-three disadvantage and 3:41 of a five-on-four disadvantage. Close made eight saves in that span, and Nelson had four of his game-high eight blocked shots.

The Gophers stretched the lead to 2-0 on a power play at 13:10 when Nelson took a pass across the slot from Luke Mittelstadt and hammered the puck past Souliere.

A key moment came with 6:20 left in the third when a Nittany Lions shot caromed off the back boards, hit Close’s pads and trickled along the goal line but not across.

“I didn’t see it until it was right there [on the line],” Close said. “I was like, ‘Thank God it wasn’t an inch further.’ We were lucky to get the clear.”

The Gophers might agree that they were lucky to get the win, too, but they’ll take it.