After another top-five win, Gopher hockey eyes a consistent formula for the season (The Athletic)

At his end of the ice, playing in a scoreless game that had gone into overtime, Mat Robson had one thing in mind.

“Make the next save,” he said.

Matching Notre Dame’s Cale Morris save for save, the Gopher goaltender did just that Friday. Robson stopped all 25 and was rewarded when Casey Mittelstadt, on a point of emphasis from the last time the two teams met, crashed the net and tapped in a Rem Pitlick rebound for a 1-0 victory over a No. 1 Fighting Irish team that swept the Gophers (and every other Big Ten team) earlier this season.

“Don’t give up the first one. You can’t think about losing or winning, you just have to make the next save and keep yourself composed,” said Robson, who for the first time this season started both games in a weekend.

When that doesn’t happen, as was the case in Saturday’s 4-1 loss to snap a three-game winning streak, it leaves Minnesota searching.

3M Arena at Mariucci has seen its share of highs and lows during the month of January. The Gophers have now twice shut out the then-No. 1 team in the nation. Sandwiched between was a 15-minute postgame players-only meeting at home, necessitated by a lifeless 3-1 defeat to Michigan.

Click here to read the rest (subscription required)!