The Minnesota Golden Gophers had themselves a perfect week.
Not only did the Golden Gophers sweep the Ohio State Buckeyes on Friday and Saturday but they also got help from a red-hot Penn State team, who tied and beat the previous No. 1 team in the Big Ten and the nation's top-ranked team, the Michigan State Spartans.
On Friday night, the Gophers defeated Ohio State 4-1 behind a pair of Brody Lamb goals, one in the first period to open up the scoring and one in the third period that extended a 2-1 lead for the Gophers to 3-1. Ten different Gophers recorded a point in the win including seven players recording assists.
Goalie Liam Souliere was strong in the win on Friday as well with 25 saves on 26 shot attempts.
He was masterful in the third period especially stopping all 13 of the Buckeyes attempts as Ohio State had an offensive onslaught outshooting the Gophers 13-4 in the final 20 minutes of play.
On Saturday, the Gophers would find themselves up 3-0 in the second period but had to hold off an Ohio State push late in the second and throughout the third periods. Two empty net goals in the final two minutes of action would ice a win for the Gophers, extending a once 4-3 lead to the eventual final of 6-3.
Connor Kurth led the Gophers with two goals in the win, both coming in the first period. Four other Gophers found the back of the net in the win while eight recorded assists including a trio of assist from Jimmy Clark.
Liam Souliere didn't have as strong a day on Saturday as he did on Friday, allowing three goals on just 16 Ohio State shot attempts.
With the pair of wins, the Gophers improve to 23-7-4 overall this season including 14-5-3 in conference play. Through 22 conference games, the Gophers have 46 points and have a two-point lead on the Michigan Syate Spartans who sit in second now with 44 points.
The Gophers will now look towards a matchup next weekend with a Penn State program who have lost just three games since the start of the calendar year, owning a 10-4-1 record. The last time the two programs met was in November, with the Gophers taking both games
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