University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota and Denver Skate to 3-3 Tie
11/18/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Hockey
Minnesota got goals from Phil Kessel, Mike Howe and Justin Bostrom as the third and fourth lines combined for three goals and three assists. With the tie, the Maroon and Gold moved its 2005-06 road record to 1-2-2.
The first period saw the Golden Gophers take a 2-0 lead before Denver cut the advantage to one with a goal late in the stanza. Minnesota drew first blood at 6:43 with Phil Kessel's sixth goal of the season. With DU's Paul Stastny in the box for boarding, Kessel took a Chris Harrington pass and fired a shot on net that deflected off Matt Carle and past DU starting goaltender Glenn Fisher for the power-play goal. With the lamplighter, Kessel pushed his point scoring streak to six games (5-7--12).
About seven minutes later, Mike Howe made it 2-0 with his fourth tally of the season. Taking a feed from Danny Irmen, Derek Peltier fired a shot from the left point that missed the net but bounced off the end board to the right side for Howe to knock in high past Fisher's glove side.
The Pioneers cut the lead to one at 16:28 when a Minnesota defensive breakdown left Tom May alone in the slot to beat UM goaltender Kellen Briggs with a wrist shot high to the glove side. For the period, the Golden Gophers and Pioneers each had 12 shots on goal.
Minnesota and Denver traded goals in the second period to give the Maroon and Gold a 3 -2 lead going into the second intermission. The Pioneers tied the game at 2-2 at 6:24 with Carle's fifth goal of the season. Pouncing on a UM turnover in the neutral zone, Ryan Dingle fed Carle who took a wrist shot from the left circle that beat Briggs to the short side.
The Golden Gophers struck back at 8:09 when the fourth line of Justin Bostrom, Ben Gordon and Evan Kaufmann combined for the go-ahead goal. Coming into the DU zone on a 3-on-2 rush, Gordon passed across the slot for Bostrom to knock home past Fisher on the glove side. Kaufmann picked up the second assist on the goal. For the period, the Pioneers out-shot Minnesota, 10-7, to own a 22-19 advantage on the shot board through two periods.
Denver scored the only goal of the third period to knot the game at 3-3. Using a 3-on-2 rush, Carle fed Steven Cook in front of the net to beat Briggs to the stick side. Stastny was credited with the second assist on the game-tying goal.
From there, it was all about defense as both Briggs and Fisher made the crucial saves to push the game to the extra session. Neither team mustered a shot in overtime to maintain the 3-3 score. For the game, the Pioneers out-shot the Golden Gophers, 36-30. Minnesota went 1-for-3 on the power play, while DU was 0-for-3. Briggs moved his record to 3-3-2, while Fisher moved to 2-2-2.
Minnesota and Denver wrap up the two-game WCHA series tomorrow at 7:07 p.m., Mountain time.
Game Notes
Tonight's game marked Minnesota's first contest vs. a ranked opponent this season.
The Golden Gophers are 1-2-2 on the road this season.
Minnesota is 86-58-11 all-time vs. the Pioneers, including a 36-35-5 mark in Denver.
UM is on a three-game unbeaten streak (2-0-1), while Denver is on a three-game winless streak (0-1-2)
Danny Irmen played his first game since the season-opener vs. Alaska Fairbanks. He missed the last nine games with a broken finger.
Current Golden Gopher streaks:
- Phil Kessel: six-game point streak (5-7--12)
- Ben Gordon: three-game point streak (2-3--5)
- Evan Kaufmann: three-game point streak (1-3--4)
- Derek Peltier: two-game point streak (0-2--2)
- Mike Howe: two-game goal streak (3-0--3)
Tonight's game marked the the Maroon and Gold's first game outside the state of Minnesota this season.
With his 167-80-24 record at Minnesota, Head Coach Don Lucia is four wins behind Brad Buetow (171-75-8 from 1979-85) for third place on UM's coaching wins list.
The Golden Gophers have not been shut out since March 18, 2005, a span of 15 games. That streak is the third-longest in the WCHA.
Minnesota is 0-1-3 in overtime games this season. In six of 11 games this season, the team that has scored four goals has won.
UM is 5-1-3 this season when allowing three or fewer goals, 0-1-1 when scoring less than three, 1-3-3 when scoring less than four, 3-0-1 when allowing less than three and 0-2-0 when allowing four or more.
The Golden Gophers are 0-1-2 on NHL-size rinks this season and 5-2-1 on Olympic sheets this season.
With his assist in the first period, Danny Irmen tallied his first point of the season.
Minnesota is 4-1-2 when scoring first, 1-1-3 when leading after one period and 4-2-1 when leading after two periods.
With 6-10--16, Phil Kessel leads the team in points and assists.
Ryan Potulny leads the team in goals and is second in points with 8-7--15.
