UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Rem Pitlick gave the No. 5 Gopher Hockey program its first lead of the night with an overtime winner as Minnesota picked up a 4-3 win over No. 8/9 Penn State to complete a Big Ten sweep at Pegula Ice Arena Saturday night.
Eric Schierhorn picked up his NCAA-leading 20th win of the season behind 42 saves – the second game in a row that the defending Big Ten Goaltender of the Year recorded a career-high for saves.
The Gophers (20-8-2 overall, 11-3-0-0 Big Ten) rallied from a two-goal deficit in the third period and rallied again behind Justin Kloos’ game-tying goal with less than four seconds left in regulation to force overtime.
Penn State (18-8-2, 7-6-1-0) jumped out to a two-goal lead behind goals from Denis Smirnov and David Goodwin before Jake Bischoff put the Gophers on the board with his fourth of the year at 5:08 of the third period. Tyler Sheehy made it an even 2-2 at 17:49 with his 18th of the year.
The game looked grim for Minnesota after Smirnov put the Nittany Lions back on top with a penalty shot goal at 18:34, but Taylor Cammarata fed Kloos for the extra-attacker equalizer at 19:56 of the third period as the senior captain scored his 15th goal of the year.
Pitlick, who tallied a four-point night on Friday including his first career hat trick, capped the thrilling comeback with his seventh goal of the season at 3:27 of the overtime session.
Minnesota improved to 15-0-1 on the year when refusing to allow a power-play goal, shutting down the home team on all four chances including a five-minute major in the first period. On the other end of the ice, the Gophers went 0-for-2 on the power play to snap the team’s streak at eight games.
With a goal and an assist on the game-winning goal, Sheehy built on his Big Ten scoring lead – moving to 46 points
The Gophers return to action next weekend with a two-game Border Battle series against Wisconsin at Mariucci Arena.
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