Gophers men’s hockey falls apart in third period at Michigan State

The Gophers men’s hockey team played two strong periods to open a critical four-game stretch. But those efforts were completely undone by what happened in the final 20 minutes.

Daniel Russell scored with 4 seconds left in regulation, lifting eighth-ranked and Big Ten-leading Michigan State to a 3-2 victory on Friday in East Lansing, Mich., ending the Gophers’ five-game winning streak in agonizing fashion.

“Very disappointed,” coach Bob Motzko said. “We did everything we had to do for 40 minutes.”

The Gophers (14-7-4, 7-5-3 Big Ten) led 2-0 after two periods at Munn Ice Arena before Michigan State (17-5-3, 11-2-2) rallied. Griffin Jurecki beat Justen Close 2:35 into the third period to cut the Spartans’ deficit in half. The Gophers had a chance to expand their lead with three third-period power plays, the last coming when Russell was called for hooking with 6:57 to play — but instead, Michigan State tied it when Karsen Dorwart scored shorthanded with 4:58 left after Tommi Männistö's rush up the ice.

And in the closing seconds, Russell tipped in a shot from Ike Howard past Close for his eighth goal of the season but only his second in 14 games. That came on the Spartans’ 17th shot on goal of the third period after they had only 10 in the first and three in the second.

Close finished with 27 saves for the Gophers, who finish this two-game series Saturday and visit second-place Wisconsin next weekend. Trey Augustine stopped 28 shots for Michigan State.

Captain Mike Koster scored 88 seconds into the game for the Gophers, the defenseman’s second goal in four games, and Oliver Moore made it 2-0 with a goal with 1:17 left in the second period. Jimmy Snuggerud assisted on both goals.

But the Gophers were hurt by the lack of power-play production, as they went 0-for-5 with seven shots on goal, along with giving up the shorthanded tying goal. During their winning streak, they had scored seven power-play goals, and their power-play success rate of 27.6% coming into the night ranked fifth in the nation. They had scored on the power play in 10 of their previous 12 games.

“Our power play got nervous, started throwing it around, we had three turnovers,” Motzko said. “... That’s a disappointing way to end that.”