Gophers men’s hockey team ties Alaska, piling up shots but not goals

The No. 3 Gophers men’s hockey team and Alaska skated to a 1-1 tie on Friday at 3M Arena at Mariucci.

The Gophers (12-2-1) outshot the Nanooks, who were playing their 11th consecutive game on the road, 37-20 — including 22-9 in the first two periods and 4-1 in the overtime. The Nanooks won the shootout 1-0 on a goal by Chase Dafoe.

BOXSCORE: Gophers 1, Alaska 1

“There were a lot of good things,” Gophers coach Bob Motzko said. “The only thing bad was we didn’t score another goal; that was it. We’ve been in a handful of these games where we have to manufacture a goal. We missed the net a handful of times when our guys were paying the price to get there. You have to make the other goalie work sometimes, and we let him off the hook a little bit.”

Nanooks goalie Nicholas Grabko stopped 36 shots. The Nanooks are 4-1-3 in their past eight games after opening the season 0-5.

Braden Birnie gave the Nanooks, who were outshot 12-4 in the first period, a 1-0 lead midway through the first period.

Freshman Beckett Hendrickson’s second goal of the season tied the game for the Gophers with 5 minutes, 15 seconds left in the second period.

The Gophers outshot the Nanooks 11-10 in the scoreless third period.

The Gophers, who went into the game with 14 power-play goals (second in the nation) and a 26.9% success rate on the power play (eighth in the nation), were 0-for-2 on the power play. The Gophers did not commit a penalty.

Gophers goalie Nathan Airey remained unbeaten (8-0-1) this season. Going into the game, Airey was the only Division I goaltender with more than five appearances to have won each start.