For the first period and part of the second, Saskia Maurer kept St. Thomas in the game. She would finish with 51 saves.
Three goals in 96 seconds carry Gophers to sweep over St. Thomas in WCHA playoffs
Taylor Heise had two goals for the Gophers, the first in the three-goal scoring flurry in the second period that broke the game open.
February 26, 2023 at 5:36AM
Then the dam burst.
The Gophers scored three goals in 1 minute, 36 seconds to take control and cruise to a 6-2 victory over the Tommies on Saturday afternoon in the second game of their best-of-three, first round WCHA women's hockey playoff series at Ridder Arena.
"A great weekend for us overall," Gophers coach Brad Frost said. "Three more really good periods of hockey today to make it six on the weekend. This time of the year, you have to be playing at your best and we feel our team is playing great overall."
Minnesota (27-5-3) won the first game 7-0, so this victory advanced the No. 4-rated team in the nation to the Final Faceoff, back at Ridder, against Wisconsin on Friday.
Defenseman Crystalyn Hengler began the Gophers' game-turning scoring burst with a goal at 7 minutes, 42 seconds of the second for a 2-1 lead. Taylor Heise followed 15 seconds later. And Abbey Murphy made it 4-1 at 9:18.
St. Thomas (8-27-1) got within two goals early in the third period on Maija Almich's unassisted goal.
But the Tommies' hopes of a rally dimmed when Heise got her second goal of the game — her team- and NCAA-leading 29th — about four minutes later.
Catie Skaja got the last Minnesota goal in the final minute.
Skylar Vetter made 24 saves for the victory. And tying Skaja for the most points was Abigail Boreen with three assists.
The Gophers went 20-16 overall and 5-13 in the Big Ten last season. Now the conference boasts UCLA, USC, Oregon and Washington.
