COLUMBUS, Ohio — Perhaps the best news for the Minnesota Gophers following a 1-1 tie at Ohio State on Saturday night is that they got a point to win their road series, and now they get a lengthy break.

Aaron Huglen’s third goal of the season was the only offense for the Gophers, who fell behind early, forged a deadlock and settled for a point in the Big Ten standings after the Buckeyes prevailed in the post-overtime shootout.

All things considered, with a team banged up and lines being shuffled, the Gophers’ coach was satisfied with what he saw.

“I liked how we played tonight, start to finish,” Bob Motzko said. “We really limited our mistake. Throughout the lineup we were conscious in our effort, and we were banged up. We lost a couple guys in the first period.”

Minnesota heads into the holiday break with a 9-5-4 overall mark, and a 5-4-3 record in the conference, which is good for third place behind Michigan State and Wisconsin. Justen Close was fooled by Ohio State’s first shot of the game, but he stopped the next 29.

For the Buckeyes (5-8-4, 0-8-2), Cam Thiesing scored early, and freshman goalie Kristoffer Eberly had 23 saves in his first collegiate start.

Theissing got his own rebound and popped a shot past Close barely three minutes into the game, giving the Buckeyes their only offensive highlight until the shootout, in which Davis Burnside got the only goal for either team.

Eberly, a freshman from Michigan who had played well in relief of starter Logan Terness on Friday, stood tall for the Buckeyes and got help from a post and a crossbar hit by the Gophers.

Minnesota’s goal came when defenseman Ryan Chesley’s long pass found Huglen at the center ice dot. With a Buckeyes defender on top of him, Huglen was still able to get off a low shot and beat the goalie.

“He’s got a guy draped all over him, and he is just crazy strong on the puck,” Motzko said. “Then to get his other hand back wrapped around for a shot like that, it was terrific.”

The Buckeyes controlled the puck for much of the three-on-three overtime, outshooting Minnesota 5-0.

Briefly

— The Gophers were without defenseman Carl Fish, who left Friday’s game early after being hit from behind into the boards. It was the first game he had missed this season. Freshman defenseman Max Rud took Fish’s spot in the lineup.

— Rhett Pitlick’s consecutive games with a goal streak was stopped at seven.

— In four shootouts this season, the Gophers are 0-4 and have failed to score on 11 shots. “Obviously we wish we could score a goal on our shootouts,” Motzko said. “Whether it’s in our head right now or whatever is going on, but it’s crazy…It’s gimmick hockey, and it ain’t going well for us. I’m not going to worry about shootouts right now.

— The Gophers are off until an exhibition game versus the USA National U-18 Team on New Years Day in Minneapolis.

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