MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota's second line had a new look Friday, and it paid off big for the Gophers.
For the first time all season, head coach Don Lucia put forwards Erik Haula, Sam Warning and Nate Condon on the second line together. All three scored goals — including two from Haula — as Minnesota topped visiting Minnesota-Duluth, 5-3, at Mariucci Arena.
For the last several weeks, Condon has flip-flopped with forward Zach Budish between the Gophers' first and second lines. Haula has been a mainstay on the second line nearly all season, while Warning has also moved between a few lines for Minnesota, which improved to 13-6-4 in the WCHA and 21-6-4 overall.
Not until Friday had the trio of Haula, Warning and Condon all played on the same line.
"Usually it's Budish and Warning I've been playing with, but having Condon there, he's a really fast guy," said Haula, who has 15 goals on the season after scoring twice Friday. "It's just a little different look. Obviously, Zach's a great player, too, and I like playing with him. But it's a fresh look. It was a good spark."
Condon was the first of the second-liners to find the score sheet Friday as his goal 4:04 into the game put Minnesota up, 1-0. He fired a shot that trickled past Bulldogs goalie Matt McNeely and just crossed over the goal line. The referees used a lengthy review to look at the play but ultimately upheld the goal as it appeared the puck crossed the line when McNeely swatted to try to make the save.
UMD coach Scott Sandelin didn't agree with the call, saying postgame that he felt the overhead view on the replay was inconclusive.
"Whatever. I don't know. Replay, make sure you get it right," Sandelin said.
Haula found the net 7:50 into the second period on a short-handed goal to put his team up, 2-0. While not technically playing with the second line as the Gophers were on the penalty kill, Haula notched his 14th goal of the season when he took a centering pass from Budish and beat McNeely.
After two Minnesota-Duluth goals tied things at 2-2 midway through the second period, Warning scored a highlight-reel goal to give the Gophers the lead once again. Warning, a sophomore from Chesterfield, Mo., moved the puck through traffic and then backhanded a shot past McNeely for his seventh goal of the season.
Even Warning's teammates were at a loss for how to describe the play.
"What can you say? I just gave him a high five," Haula said of Warning's goal, which came at the 14:52 mark o the second period. "I didn't really know what to say. Highlight-reel goal."
Warning said he learned the move from fellow sophomore Christian Isackson, who earlier this year made "SportsCenter" with an impressive goal of his own.
"Me and him after practice just work on some moves that he would see (Red Wings forward Pavel) Datysuk do," Warning said.
The Bulldogs (8-13-4, 10-17-4), who haven't won in more than a month, made things interesting after Warning's memorable goal. Austin Farley netted his second goal of the night to once again even the score just before the second intermission. But Gophers sophomore Kyle Rau scored on a rebound to put Minnesota ahead once again.
Even with the late lead, the Gophers' second line wasn't done. After UMD pulled McNeely late in the third period, Haula took the puck in the Bulldogs zone and scored an empty-netter with 5.4 seconds remaining for his second goal of the night and 15th of the season.
That iced the win for Minnesota, which can thank its second line for Friday's victory.
"Haula's line was obviously the key tonight," Lucia said. "They scored four of the five goals tonight. I thought our top-end guys made the plays when they had the opportunities to make plays, and they finished. That was the difference tonight."
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