Abbey Murphy had two goals and an assist in the first two periods to pace the Gophers women’s hockey team to a 5-2 victory over St. Thomas on Saturday at Ridder Arena.
Gophers women’s hockey sweeps St. Thomas with 5-2 win to continue its roll
The fifth-ranked Gophers have now won six in a row.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
February 4, 2024 at 1:09AM
The victory was the sixth consecutive for the No. 5-ranked Gophers (22-5-1, 16-5-1 WCHA).
Murphy, who began the weekend tied for the lead in Div. I in goals, scored twice in the second period — her 26th and 27 goals of the season. The first broke a 1-1 tie and the second extended the Gophers’ lead to 4-2. Murphy received a game misconduct with one minute remaining in the second period after being given a five-minute major penalty for boarding.
The No. 5 Gophers, who entered the weekend second in the nation in power-play percentage (38%), got power-play goals from Josefin Bouveng and Emma Kreisz on Saturday as they converted three of six opportunities in the series.
The Gophers, who had allowed just nine power-play goals in 89 attempts (fifth-best percentage in the nation) going into the weekend, did not allow the Tommies a power-play goal. The Tommies (8-20-1, 2-19-1) were 0-of-7 on the power-play on Saturday, including a 5-on-3 advantage over the final minute of the second period and first minute of the third period.
Kreisz had a goal and two assists and Bouveng had a goal and assist for the Gophers, who outshot the Tommies 34-16.
The Gophers play a home-and-home series with St. Cloud State next weekend.
The Gophers were left to ponder what might have been and what kind of team they are after staging a stirring fourth-quarter comeback in a 27-24 loss to the Wolverines.
