Drew Bavaro’s goal 3 minutes, 30 seconds into the third period broke a tie and ushered Notre Dame to a 4-2 men’s hockey victory over the Gophers on Friday night at 3M Arena at Mariucci.
The Irish, ranked No, 16, pushed their unbeaten streak to seven games while the sixth-ranked Gophers lost for the first time since being swept by Wisconsin on Oct. 27-28.
Rhett Pitlick opened the scoring midway through the first period, a rebound goal after Bryce Brodzinski’s shot from the right circle bounced off traffic in front of Notre Dame goalie Ryan Bischel.
The Irish answered two minutes later when Grant Silianoff took a backhanded pass from Brennan Ali and buried past a sprawling Justen Close to tie the game 1-1.
Patrick Moynihan wasted little time in the second period, scoring a wraparound goal just 47 ticks in to give Notre Dame its first lead of the night. The Gophers were given a boost before the break when Jimmy Snuggerud scored with 1:21 left in the period to again tie the score.
Bavaro’s goal, however, shifted the momentum back to the Irish and Landon Slaggert sealed the victory with an empty-net goal with 26 seconds to play.
Bischel made 32 saves for Notre Dame while Close turned away 13 for the Gophers.
The same teams meet again Saturday night to finish up the series.