Behind the numbers: Gophers men’s hockey team struggling to kill penalties

A quick statistical glance shows that a lot is going well for the Gophers men’s hockey team.

Minnesota averages a national-best 4.1 goals per game, is tied with Michigan State with most wins (18) in Division I hockey, sits one point behind the Spartans in the Big Ten standings and is in line to be a No. 1 seed in an NCAA regional tournament.

Look a little deeper, however, and you’ll find a problematic stat for the Gophers. Their penalty kill has been substandard, shutting down opponents’ power plays only 73.2% of the time. That ranks last in the Big Ten and 60th among the 64 Division I men’s hockey programs. In other words, opponents are scoring 26.8% of the time with a man advantage against the Gophers.

“It’s got to be better,” said Gophers coach Bob Motzko, whose team plays host to Notre Dame in a Big Ten series on Friday and Saturday at 3M Arena at Mariucci. “And we’re looking at all things to tweak that.”

The penalty kill has been especially troublesome in the Gophers’ past two Big Ten series, in which they’ve given up six goals while shorthanded and have fallen out of first place in the conference.

On Dec. 13, Michigan State scored two power-play goals in the second period, erasing a one-goal deficit on the way to a 3-3 tie and shootout triumph that secured an extra point in the conference standings. The next night, the Spartans scored on their only power play in a 5-3 win, finishing 3-for-7 with the man advantage on the weekend.

Last Friday at Ohio State, Gophers forward Brodie Ziemer received a five-minute major penalty, and the Buckeyes cashed in for two power-play goals in a 5-1 win. The next night, the Gophers rolled to a 6-1 win, though Ohio State’s lone goal came on a late power play. For the weekend, the Buckeyes were 3-for-7 with the man advantage.

Motzko expressed concern over the penalty kill but isn’t panicking. He pointed out that the Gophers have allowed 15 power-play goals this season, a total that ranks fourth in the Big Ten.

“We’re four off the leader,” he said, pointing to Wisconsin’s conference-low 11 power-play goals allowed. “When you’re down, you think, ‘Oh, geez. We’re really bad.’ We’re not.”

Motzko emphasized a couple of aspects of the penalty kill that need to improve: faceoffs and shot-blocking.

“We’re 59% [faceoff] win percentage on the power play, but we’re 41% on the penalty kill, so we’re defending a lot to start,” he said. “We really went after our guys about being in lanes and blocking shots. And we did. We got a piece of the one [goal] on Saturday, and that just was an unfortunate one.”

Gophers senior forward Mason Nevers said the team received the message from the coaching staff after last Friday’s lackluster showing.

“Coach challenged us to be better Saturday, and I thought we got off to a really good start and then kind of kept it going throughout the game,” Nevers said. “It was a great response from the guys, but we shouldn’t really need a bad night in order to have a good one.”

The challenge continued into practice this week.

“Sometimes you’ve got to speak the language they hear, that they understand,” Motzko said. “And so, we spoke it on Saturday morning, and we spoke it on Tuesday, too. They understand. [Friday’s effort] was one we haven’t seen out of our group, so we just had to remind them that we don’t want to see it again.”

7 p.m. Friday, 5 p.m. Saturday, 3M Arena at Mariucci

TV: Fox 9 on Friday, Fox 9-Plus on Saturday

Radio: 103.5-FM, 1130-AM both days

Gophers at a glance: Third-ranked Minnesota (18-4-2, 9-2-1 Big Ten) sits in second place in the Big Ten with 27 points, one behind No. 1 Michigan State. The Gophers swept Notre Dame 6-3, 5-3 in South Bend, Ind., in November as F Jimmy Snuggerud had two goals and three assists and D Sam Rinzel had two goals and two assists. Snuggerud (12-18-30) ranks third nationally in scoring. Rinzel (9-15-24) is tied for most points among defensemen. Look for Nathan Airey (10-1-2, 2.26 GAA) and Liam Souliere (8-3-0, 1.60) to continue alternating starts.

Fighting Irish at a glance: Notre Dame (7-14-1, 2-11-1) is in sixth place in the Big Ten with nine points. The Fighting Irish ended a six-game winless streak with a 7-4 home win over Michigan on Saturday to secure a series split. Cole Knuble (8-14-22) and Justin Janicke (9-12-21) are Notre Dame’s top scorers, while Owen Say (6-8-0, 2.92) and Nicholas Kempf (1-6-1, 3.15) share starts in goal.