ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Alex Roos proved tonight that he’s a player with a head for the game – literally.
At 3:24 of overtime, Will Lockwood’s shot from the left side of the crease hit Roos in the facemask and bounced into the Minnesota goal, giving Michigan a 5-4 overtime win.
The game-winning goal capped an exciting comeback for the Wolverines, who trailed the Golden Gophers 3-0 after Minnesota scored three times within the first eight minutes of the second period, tied the game by the four-minute mark in the third, trailed again less than a minute later, and tied it again before the midway point in the third period.
Near the end of regulation, the Wolverines had a power play opportunity that they nearly capitalized on, and Roos’s goal came eight seconds after Minnesota’s Rem Pitlick was called for tripping in overtime.
“What I liked about this team again,” said Michigan coach Mel Pearson, “is just our resiliency and our character to stay with it, to stay with the game plan.”
Pearson points to Nick Pastujov’s goal at 9:14 in the second, the first Michigan goal of the night, as the turning point in the game. Pastujov’s goal came less than two minutes after Tyler Sheehy made it 3-0 for Minnesota.
“We got a big goal, obviously, from Nick Pastujov and that kind of changed the momentum and from that point on, it was a hockey game,” said Pearson. “They had their chances, we had our chances, and we were fortunate to get a bounce at the end of the game. We’ve had a couple overtime games that haven’t gone our way with some tough calls. It was nice to get a bounce and a break. And I told our team, you have to earn those. You have to work hard and earn your bounces and breaks, and I thought they did tonight.”
Minnesota coach Don Lucia didn’t quite have the same take on the game. Late in the third period, Michigan’s Griffin Luce put a big hit on Scott Reedy and there was no call. Minutes later, Reedy retaliated and was called for cross-checking at 16:11, making it very difficult for Minnesota to try for another go-ahead goal.
“We put ourselves in a good spot and we turned the puck over three times in the neutral zone and three times it went in our net,” said Lucia. “The penalties at the end. Tough calls late in the game and in overtime, and it looked like a tough call that didn’t get called right after that. We’ll leave it at that.”
After a scoreless first period, Minnesota tallied three times in short order in the second. Mike Szmatula tipped in Pitlick’s shot from the top of the slot on the power play at 1:53. At 5:15, Tommy Novak executed a sweet deke on a Michigan defender before scoring on Jack LaFontaine, and at 7:51, Sheehy made it 3-0 with a feed from Brent Gates.
“They’re a good hockey team,” said Pearson. “I thought that, for the most part, it brought the best out in our team at times. There was a stretch there in the second period they showed what they can do. They can finish and they can pile the goals up in a hurry.”
Roos set up Michigan’s first goal of the night at 9:14, skating in with Pastujov two-on-one and drawing Eric Schierhorn right before dishing left to Pastujov. Tony Calderone made it 3-2 after two when he found the upper left corner of the net at 18:59.
At 3:15 in the third, Dexter Dancs tied the game 3-3 on another breakaway, assisted by Calderon, but Gates put Minnesota ahead at 3:48, a fluttering shot that beat LaFontaine low. Jake Slaker’s goal at 6:45 is what sent the game to overtime.
“I like the way we did a lot of things tonight,” said Lucia. “Our D did a good job. Those couple of turnovers were on our forwards. We scored four, which is plenty to win but we didn’t make the play in the end.”
Minnesota (5-4-0, 3-2-0-0 Big Ten) and Michigan (8-3-0, 2-1-0-0) meet again in Yost Ice Arena Saturday night. The puck drops at 7:35 p.m. Eastern.
Big Ten roundup
No. 6 Notre Dame 5, No. 19 Penn State 3
On third-period goals by Dawson Cook and Jack Jenkins, No. 6 Notre Dame beat No. 19 Penn State, 5-3, in South Bend.
The game went back and forth through the first two periods, with the Nittany Lions leading 2-1 after one on goals by Blake Gober and Nikita Pavlychev. Bobby Nardella and Andrew Oglevie scored at 9:14 and 14:20 in the second to put the Fighting Irish ahead by a goal, but Penn State’s Andrew Sturtz knotted the game, 3-3, at 15:48 in the second.
Cook also assisted on Bo Brauer’s first-period goal for Notre Dame, Brauer’s first of the season and just the third of the senior forward’s career. Senior Cale Morris made 40 saves in the game, his sixth win of the season, as the Nittany Lions outshot the Fighting Irish 43-19.
No. 7 Wisconsin 6, Michigan State 3
Six different Wisconsin players scored as the Badgers beat Michigan State, 6-3, in the first game of this road series.
Wisconsin led 3-0 at the end of the first period on goals by Matthew Freytag, Will Johnson and Ryan Wagner.
The Spartans pulled to within one early in the second, when Cody Milan scored on the power play at 1:04 and Mitchell Lewandowski scored at 6:23, but Tarek Baker answered with the game-winning goal at 13:58 in the second, his fifth of the season and his second game winner.
Cameron Hughes and Wyatt Kalynuk added goals for Wisconsin in the third, and Lewandowski had his second of the game late in the third. Ed Minney started the game for Michigan State and was replaced in the second period by John Lethemon; each Spartan goaltender surrendered three goals. Kyle Hayton had 14 saves in his sixth win of the season.
No. 17 Ohio State 5, Connecticut 4
The Huskies did what they could in the third period to even this one up, outshooting Ohio State 13-5 in the third and scoring with an extra attacker at 17:14, but it wasn’t enough to catch the Buckeyes and Ohio State beat Connecticut, 5-4.
The Buckeyes led 3-0 by the 4:13 mark in the second on two first-period goals by Matthew Weis and Dakota Johnson’s early second-period power-play marker. Jesse Schwartz and Spencer Naas each scored in the second for Connecticut to make it 3-2 after two.
The teams exchanged goals in the third, with Ohio State’s Mason Jobst making it 4-2 on the power play early, followed by a Schwartz’s second goal of the night, also with the man advantage, to make it a 4-3 game by the 6:34 mark.
Christian Lampasso had the game-winning goal just over a minute later, though, and the Buckeyes held on for the win. Senior Tanner Creel gave up all five goals in the loss and was replaced by Adam Huska midway through the third. Ohio State freshman Tommy Nappier had 35 saves in his first collegiate win as the Huskies outshot the Buckeyes 39-21.
