Hudson Fasching didn’t hide his feelings after scoring a game-winning overtime goal Friday.
“[It’s] awesome, so good,” Fasching said. “We battled right until the end and it’s just an awesome feeling to be able to stand here right now and have a ‘W’ under the belt.”
Fasching was just in front of the blue line when he raised his stick far above his head and fired past Michigan goaltender Steve Racine. Racine collapse onto the ice afterwards as the Mariucci Arena crowd roared.
Minnesota players jumped from the bench to celebrate, a 3-2 win over Michigan secure. The Gophers lost to the Wolverines 6-2 on Thursday to split the series, which kept Minnesota atop the Big Ten standings with four games to go.
“It was kind of revenge for us,” sophomore forward Leon Bristedt said Friday. “We didn’t want another game like [Thursday.] We wanted to come back.”
No. 20 Minnesota (17-14-0, 12-4-0 Big Ten) fumbled a 2-1 lead against No. 6 Michigan (20-5-5, 10-3-3-2 Big Ten) in Friday’s game before winning in overtime. Bristedt and junior forward Vinni Lettieri each scored, but then Michigan junior Tyler Motte scored his NCAA-leading 29th goal to tie the game 2-2 late in the second period.
The Gophers defense then limited Michigan’s top-ranked offense to just three shots in the third period.
“We really dug-in in the third period,” head coach Don Lucia said. “[We] didn’t give up much of anything. The guys did a good job.”
Minnesota’s defense struggled to contain the Wolverines offense the day before, with junior Alex Kile scoring a hat trick.
Kile scored a goal in each period, with his third giving Michigan a 4-0 lead with five minutes to go in the third period.
His last goal was part of a five-minute Michigan scoring barrage, as the team took a 6-0 lead with four-third period goals.
“They can score in bunches and they’re a good third-period team,” redshirt junior forward Connor Reilly said after Thursday’s game. “We obviously gave up four so we can’t be doing that ever.”
Sophomore defenseman Steve Johnson and freshman forward Tommy Novak scored their third and fourth goals of the season, respectively, shortly after Michigan’s last goal, but the outcome of the game was already decided.
The Wolverines had two power-play goals on four chances and only allowed six shots on goal in the first period.
“We didn’t do much offensively today,” Lucia said after Thursday’s game. “We didn’t have much flow to our game. I don’t think we were a threat.”
Freshman goaltender Eric Schierhorn finished with 41 saves and allowed eight goals over the two games.
Minnesota has a one-point lead over Michigan in the standings after the series, and the Gophers last four games are against the sixth-place team in the Big Ten and the team tied for fourth.
“We feel good,” Fasching said. “We’re in first place, [it’s] about as good as you can feel to be honest.”
