Jimmy Snuggerud leads Gophers hockey past Ohio State

Jimmy Snuggerud scored two dazzling first-period goals and assisted on another as the 10th-ranked Gophers men’s hockey team parlayed a three-goal first period into a 5-4 victory over Ohio State Friday night in Columbus, Ohio.

Snuggerud got the Gophers (9-5-3, 5-4-2 Big Ten) going early, taking advantage of a Buckeyes turnover in their own zone with a pretty, between-the-legs snipe that went five-hole past Ohio State goaltender Logan Terness at 4:06 in the first period.

But while the Gophers tallied three first-period goals, Ohio State got two of its own within 3 minutes, 39 seconds, the second giving the Buckeyes a 2-1 lead.

Ohio State (5-8-3, 0-8-1) came out in full force, outshooting the Gophers 38-25 on the night.

Their lead didn’t last long, however, as Snuggerud continued to impress for the Gophers, scoring on the power play at 9:58, then assisting on Rhett Pitlick’s goal at 16:58 as Minnesota jumped back out front, 3-2.

That led to the Buckeyes pulling Terness and turning to Kristoffer Eberly in net. Terness had 10 saves on 13 shots in the first period, while Eberly stopped 10 of 12 the rest of the way.

Ohio State’s Stephen Halliday knotted things back up at 3-3 with a goal at 12:36 in the second period, but the Gophers began to pull away after that.

Connor Kurth scored at 16:37 in the second period, and Brody Lamp had a power-play goal at 7:28 in the third period as the Gophers took a two-goal lead at 5-3.

Ohio State’s Damien Carfagna scored at 15:14 in the third to make things a little more interesting late, but that’s as close as the Buckeyes would get.

Justen Close finished with 34 saves and the win for the Gophers.