Gophers Suffer Season’s Largest Loss to No. 2 Michigan State

All eyes in the State of Hockey are on St. Paul for the Minnesota boys' state high school hockey tournament, but the University of Minnesota's men's team opened its final series of the regular season with a 7-1 loss to No. 2 Michigan State on Thursday

Star Michigan State forward Porter Martone got the scoring started early, finding the back of the net just over five minutes into the game to give the Spartans an early 1-0 lead. The Gophers were outshot 12-8 after the first 20 minutes.

The No. 2-ranked Spartans were -210 betting favorites for Thursday night's game on the road, according to DraftKings Sportsbook, and that looked like some serious value. They began to turn things on in the second period with four more goals, and the Gophers' defense looked lost. Michigan State carried a 5-0 lead into the final period.

Second of the night for Porter Martone who scores just 18 seconds into the power play! pic.twitter.com/AzMmTiVguG
— Michigan State Hockey (@MSU_Hockey) March 6, 2026

Michigan State added one more goal in the third period to hand the Gophers a 7-1 loss after Tanner Ludtke found the back of the net late in the game. The Gophers were outshot 45-24. The five-goal difference is the largest loss of the season for Minnesota, and the fact that the Spartans are ranked No. 2 in the country is probably the only thing holding it back from being worse than their home loss against Long Island (LIU) earlier in the season.

The Gophers now have a 11-21-2 overall record, and a 7-14-1 mark in Big Ten play. Their 21 losses are their most in program history since the 1997-98 season, when they had 22. They will play one more regular-season game on Friday against Michigan State at 7 p.m. CT before next week's Big Ten tournament.

Ohio State lost to Notre Dame in overtime on Thursday, which means they're still three points ahead of the Gophers in the standings. The best they can finish is a tie for fifth, and Ohio State holds the head-to-head tiebreaker. Minnesota has clinched a sixth-place finish in the conference this season. That means they will face Penn State in the first round of the conference tournament at Pegula Ice Arena. That game will be played on Wednesday, March 11, for a chance to advance to the semifinals on March 14.

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