Gophers Rally For Lehr’s First Win

MINNEAPOLIS (GopherSports.com) – Rallying from a three-goal deficit, the No. 14/15 Gopher Hockey program picked up a key 5-3 win over Michigan State on Thursday night at Mariucci Arena to open this week’s Big Ten series and give Don Lucia his 390th career win with Minnesota – tying Doug Woog for the school all-time wins record.

The only Big Ten game of the night, the win temporarily gives the Gophers sole possession of first place in the Big Ten with 30 points and gave Nick Lehr his first win as a Gopher in his first career start.

Five Gophers tallied multiple points in the win including three-point nights from Mike Reilly and Sam Warning.

Michigan State opened the contest with three-straight goals over the first 11 minutes of play – two of them from Joe Cox – before Minnesota responded with five unanswered goals to the open the series with a victory.

The Gophers (18-10-3 overall, 9-3-3-0 Big Ten) fought their way onto the scoreboard late in the first period as Travis Boyd scored his 16th goal of the season – most among the Gophers – at 18:21. The Maroon & Gold continued the barrage with three more goals in the second period as Reilly, Hudson Fasching and Warning scored at 3:40, 7:11 and 18:30, respectively. Minnesota’s final two tallies in the second came on the power play as Minnesota ended the night at 2-for-4 on the advantage while outshooting Michigan State 42-24.

Warning added his second of the night to seal the win for Minnesota with an empty-net insurance goal with two seconds left in regulation.

Meanwhile, Lehr made 20-straight saves to end the night in his first career start and second career appearance. The rookie netminder ended the night with 21 saves and moved to 1-1-0 on the season. Jake Hildebrand made 37 saves in the loss for the Spartans, falling to 13-14-2.

Minnesota and Michigan State close out the week on tonigiht at 8:12 p.m. CT at Mariucci Arena. Friday’s finale can be heard on 1340 KROC AM starting with our pre-game coverage at 7:30 pm.