Gophers Shut Out Badgers in Madison

MADISON, Wis. (GopherSports.com) – Eric Schierhorn had to get bloody for his third career shutout, but that only made the end result more sweet as the Gopher Hockey program topped Border Battle rival Wisconsin 4-0 on Friday night in the series opener at the Kohl Center.

The rookie netminder made 29 saves including a shot off his helmet that caused a small cut above his eye as Schierhorn moved to 12-10-0 in his freshman campaign with the Maroon & Gold.

Minnesota (12-10-0 overall, 7-2-0-0 Big Ten) boasted four different goal scorers in the game while Connor Reilly, Hudson Fasching and Justin Kloos all tallied multi-point nights.

Skating in his 100th career game, Fasching sent the Gophers into the first intermission with the lead after tallying his team-best 14th goal of the season. The junior forward knocked home a power-play goal at 14:12 on assists from Michael Brodzinski and Reilly.

The Gophers made it a two-goal game when Steve Johnson put home his second of the year at 5:58 of the second period off assists from Kloos and Reilly. Reilly posted his second-straight two-point game in the victory.

Kloos added to the lead with a short-handed goal – his third of the year on the disadvantage and Minnesota’s fifth this year -- at 12:05 of the second stanza. Fasching set up the goal while Nick Seeler also earned an assist.

Vinni Lettieri closed out the scoring for the night when he tipped in a shot from Leon Bristedt at 18:55 of the third period. Fasching picked up his third point of the night and has now recorded points in nine of the last 11 games with 17 points and 10 goals in that span.

Minnesota held Wisconsin without a power-play goal on three chances, extending the Gophers’ unblemished streak to 19-straight penalty kills without surrendering a goal.

The Badgers (4-11-6, 1-6-1-2) outshot the Gophers 29-25 but couldn’t find a way around Schierhorn.

The Border Battle resumes on Saturday night at the Kohl Center. The series finale is set for 7 p.m. CT.