Gophers lose 6-2, get swept by No. 18 Penn State

Published Feb. 9, 2019 10:47 p.m. ET

One night after suffering an ugly 7-2 loss at the hands of No. 18 Penn State, Minnesota couldn’t muster a better effort Saturday night and lost 6-2 to the Nittany Lions.

Unlike Friday night, it was a competitive game during the opening 20 minutes. Tied 1-1 after one period of play, Sammy Walker gave Minnesota a brief 2-1 lead midway through the second period.

Sammy Walker right out in front to put the #Gophers in front! pic.twitter.com/PuvYeoHnWo

— Minnesota Men’s Hockey (@GopherHockey) February 10, 2019

But Penn State went on to score five unanswered goals, including three in the third period alone to clinch the series sweep.

Mat Robson made 42 saves for the Gophers, moving to 9-10-4 between the pipes this season. Peyton Jones picked up the win with 22 saves to improve to 12-7-2.

Penn State has now won six straight games over the Gophers at Pegula Ice Arena and nine of the last 11 meetings overall.

Minnesota drops to 11-14-4 overall (8-9-3 Big Ten) after the loss.

UP NEXT

Things just get tougher for Minnesota. The Gophers visit No. 3 Ohio State (19-5-4, 12-3-3) next weekend for a two-game series in Columbus. It’ll be the second series between the two programs this season, as Ohio State escaped with a pair of double overtime wins back in early December.