Gophers skate with purpose, blow out first-place Wolverines 6-2

There they are. The Gophers that all of college hockey expected to see four months ago arrived at Mariucci Arena on Friday night and put on a performance fitting of their all-star cast.

The unranked Gophers embarrassed No. 12 Michigan 6-2 and cleared up any doubt that this team could be capable of redeeming an underachieving start. The blowout gave the Gophers (15-9-3, 6-2-3 Big Ten) a fresh start and something to build on as they enter the second half of Big Ten competition on a five-game unbeaten streak and three points away from first place in the standings.

The revival was made possible by standouts who were supposed to carry the Gophers to another uber-successful season. Senior captain Kyle Rau erupted for a hat trick and surpassed 150 career points. All-America Mike Reilly had a career-high four points with a goal and three assists. Veteran defenseman Brady Skjei helped manage a strong defensive effort that gave up only 23 shots on goal to the nation-best offense.

Goaltender Adam Wilcox made 21 saves against the Wolverines (16-9-0, 8-3-0).

"It kind of feels like we're coming on, doesn't it?" Rau said. "So we'll see if we got it [Saturday] and keep rolling. We're playing well. We're playing good hockey.

"We want to win the Big Ten title and we've got to go through Michigan. So we're still not where we want to be. We've got to beat them again."

These four figures, plus a maturing sophomore class, were the reasons behind the Gophers' high expectations for the season. It took 27 games for the collective group to succeed together and the result produced plenty of highlights.

Sophomore forward Taylor Cammarata had two assists in a three-goal first period. Sophomores Hudson Fasching and Justin Kloos each had an assist, and Vinni Lettieri had a goal.

Reigning Big Ten first star of the week Travis Boyd continued his offensive surge by contributing two assists, and Seth Ambroz scored a goal.

"Whenever you can contribute, it's always a good thing," Reilly said, "but one thing I wanted to focus on this week was really commit to the 'D' zone even harder than I've been playing. … So with that the offense came and it's good to see."

Rau hadn't scored more than one goal in a night through 26 games and had only scored three goals since Jan. 1. He was efficient with his only three shots on Friday night, scoring his first goal 6:28 into the first period on a power-play give-and-go with Cammarata. On the second, he took the length of the ice for the shorthanded goal, and the third he manufactured alone by forcing a turnover and breaking away for the hat trick.

Lucia's focus entering the weekend was defend before score. The Gophers succeeded with the game plan and produced one of their best offensive nights of the season, securing the program's 300th win at Mariucci Arena.

"We did what we needed to do and played well defensively, and through defense we were able to score some goals," Lucia said.

"I think [this sort of effort] has been there, but when it's the whole team …"

The Wolverines lost for only the fourth time in their past 18 games.

A victory on Saturday night would move the Gophers into a tie with Michigan. Penn State begins the day one point ahead of the Gophers and two behind the Wolverines.

"They're a different team obviously [compared to early January] and we knew they would be," longtime Michigan coach Red Berenson said. "They had a perfect home game. They got the first goal, the second goal, the third goal. They got the crowd into it, and we couldn't change the momentum."