The line juggling continued for Gophers women’s hockey coach Brad Frost on Friday night at Ridder Arena, and the move he made at the start of the third period proved to be game-changing

After having freshman Ava Lindsay center the top line between Ella Huber and Abbey Murphy, Frost moved winger Josefin Bouveng up to left wing on the No. 1 line, with Huber returning to her natural position at center.

Five-and-a-half minutes into the period, Bouveng scored her 10th goal of the season to break a 1-1 tie, and the Gophers (21-5-1 overall, 15-5-1 WCHA) went on to beat St. Thomas, 3-1.

“We went back to what we know works,” Frost said. “Ava was good there, too, with Ella and Murph, but it just felt like we needed some kind of spark there after getting outshot in the second period.”

Bouveng, a sophomore from Sweden, said she took the news in stride when told she would be moving up to the top line in the third period.

“I also try to do my best wherever I am,” she said. “I felt I could make a little push to help the team, and we accomplished our mission by scoring. Murph is one of the best in the world and Ella is super fast, too, and I feel like I step up my game when I play with those two.”

Bouveng is the Gophers’ second-leading scorer, behind Murphy with 29 points. While she has been good from the start of the season, she has taken her game to another level of late. She has goals in four of the past five games, and picked up a pair of assists in the one game she didn’t score.

“She’s a natural goal scorer,” Frost said. “She plays on the Swedish Olympic team, and she just has a really good shot. She has a knack for the back of the net, and when you’re playing with Murph and Ella, that helps, too.”

The Tommies (8-19-1, 2-18-1) gave the Gophers all they could handle. It was the 15th meeting between the two teams since St. Thomas moved up to Division I. The Gophers  have won them all, but this was clearly the most competitive game of the bunch.

“It was No. 15; we thought maybe it was a magic number,” St. Thomas coach Joel Johnson said. “But it’s a rivalry in the making. It’s not there yet; nor should it be. But I’m looking forward to the day that it really feels like that, and I think games like this is a step in that direction.”

Frost was impressed with what he saw from the Tommies.

“They were very aggressive in their ‘D’ zone and blocked a ton of shots,” he said. “And they had a couple of glorious chances late, and Lucy (Morgan) made one really good save there to keep the lead.”

The Tommies took a 1-0 lead at 12:18 of the first period on defenseman Nicole Vallario’s fifth goal of the season. Vallario drove the net and beat Morgan from in tight after taking a centering pass from Maddie Brown.

The Gophers pulled even in the final minute on a power-play goal by Murphy. Murphy beat Tommies goaltender Olivia King on a wrist shot from the left-wing circle for her 25th goal the season after taking a cross-crease pass from Huber.

The game remained tight throughout. It wasn’t until the Gophers added an empty-net goal at 19:37 that the outcome was clear.

“It felt like I wouldn’t have changed a thing — except for the result,” Johnson said. “Just really proud of the way we defended and created offense. I felt there are large stretches of the game where we carried the play.

“But we couldn’t find that extra goal. Then it ends up in the back of our net and you’re chasing it. It was disappointing, but not discouraging.”

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