Bryce Brodzinski recorded his 100th career point and Rhett Pitlick had a career-high three points as the Minnesota Golden Gophers defeated Penn State 4-1 on Friday night.
The Nittany Lions opened the scoring with Dane Dowiak's goal from Tanner Palocsik and Matt DiMarsico at 5:30 of the first period but the Gophers stormed back with Sam Rinzel's first career goal from Pitlick at 16:35 and Brodzinski's goal from Jaxon Nelson and Mason Nevers at 18:07 of the first period to take a 2-1 lead into the first intermission.
Connor Kurth extended Minnesota's lead with a goal from Oliver Moore and Pitlick at 9:06 of the second period and Pitlick capped the scoring with a goal from Jimmy Snuggerud and Luke Mittelstadt at 11:42 of the first period.
While the Gophers were out-shot 34-21, Justen Close preserved the victory with 33 saves on the night. Minnesota also went 0-for-3 on the power play while Penn State went 0-for-5.
The win helped Minnesota improve to 8-4-3 on the season and sit fourth in the Big Ten behind Michigan State (5-1-2), Wisconsin (5-2-0) and Notre Dame (4-1-2) with a 4-3-2 conference record.
The Gophers will wrap up its weekend series at Penn State at 5 p.m. on Saturday.
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