With five members of last season’s Gophers men’s hockey team currently playing in the NHL, there were going to be new sources of offense needed if they were to make a run at a third consecutive Big Ten title.

Logan Cooley’s decision to become an Arizona Coyote in late July meant that coach Bob Motzko needed another forward. And the call he made to Jimmy Clark, telling the Edina kid to come to campus rather than spend another season in the USHL is paying notable dividends already.

On Sunday afternoon, Clark’s overtime winner lifted Minnesota to a 6-5 win over Michigan State in the finale of their weekend series. The victory thwarted a furious comeback by the Spartans, who trailed by a pair in the final minutes of regulation, but scored twice to force the extra session.

Bryce Brodzinski scored twice and added a pair of assists as the Gophers improved to 7-4-3 overall and 3-3-2 in the Big Ten. Rhett Pitlick, Connor Kurth and Ryan Chesley also scored for the Gophers, who got 41 saves from Justen Close in the win.

“That’s kind of a microcosm of our season, it was the good, bad and the ugly at times,” said Gophers coach Bob Motzko, tipping his cap to the Spartans. “That’s a program that over one summer transformed the roster. They’re going to be a top team … and it was great hockey this weekend from both teams. It was a battle.”

Michigan State (10-4-2, 5-1-2) suffered its first conference loss of the season despite goals from Red Savage, David Gucciardi, Patrick Geary, Nash Nienhuis and a tying goal from Joey Larson with 18.1 seconds left in regulation. Spartans goalie Trey Augustine finished with 35 saves.

“To be down two goals with under five minutes left and to score and then to score again, that was a good sign for our team to keep pushing,” Spartans coach Adam Nightingale said. “Five-on-five I really liked us. Obviously special teams didn’t go our way and that’s something we’ll keep working on.”

As was the theme all weekend between these two top-10 ranked teams, Minnesota scored, then Michigan State responded in the first period, and in the second. The Gophers led 1-0 until late in the first period when the Spartans forged a tie after putting 17 shots on the Minnesota net in the opening 20 minutes.

The Spartans gave up a pair of power-play goals, but also got one back with a man in the box on Sunday when Gucciardi’s short-handed breakaway gave Michigan State a 2-1 lead — which turned out to be the Spartans’ only lead of the weekend — early in the second. Both teams were given major penalties in the middle frame with Michigan State’s Tommi Mannisto (for the second consecutive game) ejected for boarding, and Minnesota star forward Jimmy Snuggerud tossed for checking from behind.

But Minnesota managed to forge a tie with the teams skating 4-on-4, then took the lead back on a power play via Brodzinski’s second of the game. Once again the Spartans answered, with Geary’s goal late in the second forging a 3-3 tie.

Third-period goals by Kurth and Pitlick gave Minnesota a more comfortable 5-3 lead, but the Spartans kept chipping away. With Augustine on the bench for an extra attacker, Larson caught a pass from behind the net and popped it past Close with less than 20 seconds on the clock to force overtime for the second straight night.

Clark, who was a prep standout for Edina and skated with Green Bay last season, finished it when he got loose in front of Augustine and scored his fourth goal of the season.

“Their kid broke a stick, our guys smelled it, and good puck movement, everybody touched it on the shift,” Motzko said. “It’s too bad we got into overtime, but we did and I liked our resiliency tonight.”

Extra pucks

Minnesota appeared to take a 1-0 lead near the midway point of the first period, when a long-range shot by Luke Mittelstadt landed in the back of the net. Officials immediately waved off the goal, noting that there was goalie interference when Minnesota’s Jaxon Nelson knocked Gucciardi into the Michigan State goalie prior to the shot.

Nelson may need to repaint the nets at his home rink at some point next week. He hit the pipe with potential goals in both games.

The Gophers take their longest road trip of the season next weekend, traveling to Penn State for a pair of Big Ten games. Michigan State has a weekend off to start December.

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