Gophers men open Big Ten hockey season with 4-1 victory over Notre Dame

The Gophers' two main edicts for their conference-opening series were to score first and play better defense.

Ryan Johnson seemed to take that on personally.

The junior defenseman assisted on two of the Gophers' goals — including that all-important first strike — and led the D-core in shutting down Notre Dame 4-1 on Friday at 3M Arena at Mariucci. The No. 7 Gophers (4-3, 1-0 Big Ten) rebounded from last weekend's sweep against Minnesota Duluth in front of an announced crowd of 6,744. They'll look to repeat the performance against the No. 14 Fighting Irish (4-2, 0-1) at 5 p.m. Saturday.

Gophers coach Bob Motzko had been particularly disappointed in his veteran defenseman in a 3-2 loss to Duluth and didn't hold back with his criticism. But Motzko remarked after Friday's win how his tough love came from a place of high standards.

While the forward group had six freshmen and a new transfer to incorporate, the defense remained largely intact from last season, with every player returning with some experience. So when the group made bad turnovers or left opponents unguarded, Motzko knew they could play better.

Friday was a reclamation of that high-level play.

"We needed to maybe have a game like this to get solidified," Motzko said. "Kind of remind us."

Notre Dame plays a very defensive, high-pressure style, and the Gophers felt that from the start, managing only one shot on goal through the first nearly 15 minutes of the game. But when that second shot came, it ended up being the kind of breakthrough the Gophers had struggled to achieve early this season.

Johnson passed the puck to center Ben Meyers in the neutral zone, and he took it from there, skating into the Irish's zone and circling a wraparound past Notre Dame goaltender Matthew Galajda.

That seemed to settle the Gophers into a more offensive second period, in which they outshot Notre Dame 15-10. Johnson picked the puck off a Notre Dame skater and flipped it to winger Bryce Brodzinski, who completed the punishment for that turnover with a shot from the top of the left circle at 14:10.

"Obviously, we had a tough start for our team. But that's what we have to do is just string together wins and just build one game at a time," Johnson said. "… You could tell in the locker room, the mood will change. So whether you just say something, just redirect our attention to what's ahead, is really important. And forgetting what was behind."

Notre Dame cut the Gophers' lead at 14:29 of the third period. Minnesota attempted to clear the puck behind the net, but it popped out back in front, where center Graham Slaggert was alone to bat it past Gophers goaltender Jack LaFontaine.

That ended a shutout stretch of 165 minutes, 31 seconds for LaFontaine, who kept the Irish off the board in the teams' last meetings a season ago. But he still ended with 28 saves on 29 shots.

Galajda finished with 25 saves from the Gophers' 29 shots, including a beauty from winger Mason Nevers.

With Notre Dame desperate for an equalizer, Nevers took a cross-ice pass from Matthew Knies and finessed it around a defenseman before a snappy backhand into the goal with two minutes to play. Winger Blake McLaughlin added one more into an empty net with one second to go.

"They're going to push. They've got a great system. They've got great players. They're great team," Nevers said of Notre Dame. "And we were ready for that."