October 26th, 2024: The Gophers took advantage of seven power play chances in their 6-2 win over St. Thomas.
–> Follow @Dylanloucks4 on Twitter
St. Paul, Minn – This Minnesota Gophers (5-1-0) team has a lot of talent. 12 out of their 13 forwards who play have at least one goal this year. Their defense has recorded eight goals this year through just six games. They had nine last year in 39 games.
So, there is no question they can win a game on talent alone but one thing Gophers’ head coach Bob Motzko stressed yesterday was playing a complete game. Playing with grit and out working the opposition.
On Saturday it was all about the power play.
“There was a lot of 50/50 hockey last night and then tonight was special teams,” Motzko said. “Our power play needed to answer the bell and you have to do that in a season. We need to get our power play going and to get three of them, tonight was big for us.”
On the Gophers’ first power play chance, they scored. After Lucas Wahlin, St. Thomas’ captain went to the box for tripping, the Gophers were sent to the man advantage.
Minnesota has three power play units. Entering Saturday’s game they were 2-for-14 on the power play. Something that they hope gets better.
Brody Lamb picked up the puck on the right side after a nice hold by Sam Rinzel. He dropped one off to Rinzel who fired a shot through traffic that hit Aaron Trotter. Lamb went straight to the net after he passed it and picked up the rebound, giving the Gophers a 2-1 lead.
Erik Pahlsson has been the perfect net-front guy on the Gophers’ top power play unit. He had big shoes to fill after the 6-foot-4 Jaxon Nelson graduated and signed a pro contract with the Boston Bruins.
But the 6-foot-1 center out of Landskrona, Sweden, has made his presence known. He takes a beating in front but him screening goaltenders has created a lot of looks for the Gophers and now, some goals.
“We talk about that all the time, making sure goalies don’t see the puck,” Lamb said on Pahlsson’s net front presence. “They’re all so good at this level, making sure the goalies can’t read a pass, can’t read a shot makes a huge difference, especially on the power play when you have time to shoot it.”
Lamb picked up two more power-play goals in the second period after Matthew Gleason got a five minute misconduct and was kicked out of the game for his hit to the head on Matthew Wood.
Shortly after the five minute penalty, St. Thomas’ head coach Rico Blasi was given a bench minor penalty which sent the Gophers to a 5-on-3 man advantage. Lamb ripped the first one past Trotter after a nice feed from Luke Mittelstadt.
It was Mittelstadt’s first point of the season. Lamb then followed it up with another on the power play just two minutes after his second.
Jimmy Snuggerud caught a pass from Wood and turned around in the slot and unloaded on it. His stick broke in pieces which caused Trotter to go down. The puck trickled to Lamb who made no mistake.
Lamb became the first Gopher to score three power-play goals in a game since Ryan Potulny scored on the man advantage three times in a 6-3 win over Michigan on Nov. 25, 2005.
It seemed like a pretty even game when it came to five-on-five play but seven penalties and two five minute majors helped the Gophers build their lead over the Tommies. They walked away with another sweep and improved to 5-1-0 on the year.
“Our offense has been pretty elite, we need the power play to be elite,” Motzko said. “I hope this is a weekend that points the arrow in that direction.”