Saturday, January 21, 2017

Pregame Blog: Minnesota at Wisconsin 1/21/17 Line Combinations

One of the biggest plays from Friday's 4-3 overtime win was a goal that didn't count. The Gophers finished off what appeared to be a 2-on-1 play, with Justin Kloos feeding Mike Szmatula for a 3-1 lead with 7:24 remaining in the second period. Instead, Kloos was called for slashing a stick prior to the goal and it was waved off.

Minnesota's captain gave an explanation postgame.

"Came out in the third just after I settled down a little bit and calmed down and could an actual conversation with the ref," he said "They didn't look at replay, but from his angle, would I have wanted that call if my stick was slashed. So I understand where he was coming from, but my whole thing was that there was a closer referee that didn't call it because he saw that I had one hand on my stick and was just battling and didn't step on the guy.

"I understand why he called it and fortunately it didn't end up being a big factor."

Kloos of course ended up getting the last laugh, scoring the overtime-winning goal.

You can catch up with my game story.

Minnesota makes one change Saturday for Hockey Day Minnesota. Ryan Norman takes the spot of Connor Reilly on the fourth line.

University of Minnesota Golden Gophers lines
Forwards
Rem Pitlick (#15) - Justin Kloos (#25) - Tyler Sheehy (#22)
Taylor Cammarata (#13)- Vinni Lettieri (#19) - Leon Bristedt (#18)
Brent Gates Jr. (#10) - Mike Szmatula (#9) - Luke Notermann (#11)
Ryan Norman (#23) - Darian Romanko (#26) - Jack Ramsey (#16)

Defense
Jake Bischoff (#28) - Ryan Lindgren (#5)
Steve Johnson (#4) - Jack Sadek (#2)
Ryan Zuhsldorf (#20) - Ryan Collins (#6)

Goaltenders
Eric Schierhorn (#37)
Nick Lehr (#34)
Brock Kautz (#1)

Wisconsin made three changes from Friday. Senior forward Jedd Soleway is in the lineup, as is defenseman Patrick Sexton. The biggest change comes in net where Matt Jurusik gets the nod over Friday's starter, Jack Berry. The two have been platooning when Jurusik is healthy.


Puck drop is at 5 p.m. CT. The game airs on Fox Sports North.

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