Jan 31, 2009 10:25 pm US/Central
Zacharias Keys Mavericks' 3-1 Win At Minnesota
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) ―
-
-
The Mavericks out-shot Minnesota by a wide margin in the first 40 minutes, then held on during a third period dominated by the Gophers, who have won just twice in their last six games. (File)
AP
Kurt Davis and James Gaulrapp scored in the first period and Mike Zacharias stopped 29 shots, helping Minnesota State beat Minnesota 3-1 on Saturday night.
Coupled with Friday night's 6-2 win in Mankato, it marked the first time the Mavericks (13-13-3, 8-13-2 WCHA) have ever swept a weekend series with the Golden Gophers.
The Mavericks out-shot Minnesota by a wide margin in the first 40 minutes, then held on during a third period dominated by the Gophers, who have won just twice in their last six games.
"Defensively we played very well all weekend, start to finish," Mavericks coach Troy Jutting said. "The kids did some things we asked them to do, and did them well. We played a lot closer to the way to need to play at the end of the season."
Davis, who is Minnesota State's scoring leader, got his sixth goal of the season midway through the first on a play where Minnesota goaltender Alex Kangas lost sight of a loose puck in front of the net.
"The puck bounced right in the air and someone fired it right back on net. I don't think Kangas saw it. It hit his pad and happened to land right on my stick as I was sneaking in from the blue line," Davis said. "I just shot it on net and it went in."
Before the period ended, Gaulrapp made it 2-0, scoring for just the second time this season on a short-handed breakaway.
It could have been much worse for the Gophers.
Early in the second period, Minnesota's Nico Sacchetti and captain Ryan Stoa were ejected from the game for checking from behind in a span of less than two minutes.
The resulting five-minute major penalties gave Minnesota State an extended two-man advantage, but the Mavericks failed to add to their lead.
"We couldn't get going offensively," Minnesota coach Don Lucia said. "We had to kill a boatload of penalties. especially those majors. The guys did a terrific job doing that, but I haven't seen too many teams win when they take back-to-back majors."
Minnesota (12-7-5, 9-6-3) finally scored in the third when Patrick White's initial shot was stopped, but White scored his own rebound, making it 2-1.
Zach Harrison scored an empty-net goal in the final seconds for the Mavericks, who were out-shot 12-5 in the final period.
Kangas finished with 28 saves for Minnesota, which, prior to Friday, had not lost a regular season game to the Mavericks since November 2002.
(© 2010 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
Scenes From Super Bowl XLIV
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
