Gophers fall short of clinching Big Ten championship with 3-1 loss at league-worst Wisconsin

The Gophers knew a sweep of Wisconsin in Madison would give them their second consecutive Big Ten regular-season championship with two weeks left in the season. With a victory on Friday, coach Bob Motzko's team put itself in position to secure that banner by beating the last-place Badgers a day later.

It didn't happen.

Cruz Lucius scored with 21 seconds left in the first period, and Daniel Laatsch and Carson Bantle scored in the second, leading Wisconsin to a 3-1 victory on Saturday night at Kohl Center.

Mike Koster scored for the top-ranked Gophers (21-8-1, 15-4-1 Big Ten, 46 points), who also had a second-period goal wiped out by video review. Justen Close made 26 saves.

"We were OK early, and we played with a little desperation," Motzko told reporters in Madison. "But Wisconsin played with desperation the entire night. We've got a target on us."

Minnesota still had another chance to clinch the regular-season title. If second-place Michigan had lost to Michigan State on Saturday, the Wolverines could not pass the Gophers. Instead, Michigan won 4-3 in overtime and trails the Gophers by 11 points. Minnesota will try to clinch the title next weekend at Penn State. One more point gained by Minnesota, or lost by Michigan, would give the Gophers the title and No. 1 seed in the conference tournament because they own the tiebreaker over the Wolverines.

The Gophers, who won 4-1 on Friday despite being outshot 21-3 in the first period, started better Saturday but couldn't finish consistently. Badgers goalie Kyle McClellan was sharp, making 32 saves as Wisconsin (11-19, 4-16, 12 points) ended a six-game losing streak and beat Minnesota for the first time in four meetings this season.

Minnesota entered the game averaging 4.1 goals per game, third most in the nation, but was held to its lowest output since a 3-0 loss at St. Cloud State on Jan. 7.

Brock Faber nearly gave the Gophers a lead at 15:10 of the first, but McClellan denied him from the point. A minute later, Brody Lamb put a shot behind McLellan, but Zach Urdahl swept the puck away before it could cross the goal line.

"This goalie hasn't played a lot, and we kind of let him off the hook tonight," Motzko said of McClellan.

Koster gave the Gophers a 1-0 lead at 18:28 of the first, taking a pass from Jimmy Snuggerud and blasting a shot past McClellan.

The lead didn't last long. Lucius, a former Gophers commit, took a pass from Mathieu De St. Phalle and backhanded a shot over Close's right pad with 21 seconds left in the first.

Laatsch gave Wisconsin a 2-1 lead at 10:17 of the second when he fired a rebound past Close.

The Gophers appeared to tie the score 2-2 at 11:47 when Connor Kurth beat McClellan. But Wisconsin coach Tony Granato challenged the play for too many men on the ice on a Gophers line change, and officials wiped out the goal after a video review.

The Badgers made it 3-1 at 14:09 after a Gophers blue-line turnover when Carson Bantle beat Close.

The Gophers carried play in the third period, getting nine of the first 11 shots on goal through 9:47 and owning a 14-5 advantage in the period, but Wisconsin kept the middle of the ice clogged and forced play to the perimeter. The Badgers did a good job of clearing the puck from their zone, making the Gophers skate the length of the ice to regroup offensively.

"We were OK," Motzko said. "We've got to be a lot better than OK."

The Star Tribune did not send the writer of this article to the game. This was written using a broadcast, interviews and other material.